Julia Peterkin

Bright Skin

originally published:
Indianapolis : Bobbs-Merrill
1932

We offered this inscribed copy of the first edition in 2011.

reference info

bio notes:
born: 10/31/1880
died: 8/10/1961
born as: Julia Mood
nationality: USA

American novelist and short-story writer best known for her sympathetic portrayals of black folklife in the South Carolina Low Country.

Collecting tips:

Peterkin's Pulitzer-winning novel Scarlet Sister Mary (1928) turns up occasionally, but there we have seen two variants of the jacket and haven't yet been able to determine whether one precedes or not. We tend to think their might have been a "special" issue, and they both might qualify as correct first edition jackets. Let us know if you figure it out. If you really want to spend some money on Peterkin try the limited edition of her book Roll, Jordan, Roll (1935), illustrated with photographs by Dorothy Ulmann. Limited to 350 copies, and intended to be accompanied by an original photographic print, nice copies will cost you in five figures, depending on whether the print is still with the book. The trade edition in dustwrapper is much more affordable, but still not cheap. The publisher, Robert O. Ballou, went out of business soon thereafter, and copies with the imprint of other publishers (this only applies to the trade edition) are considerably less desirable.