New York: Harper & Brothers, (1947).
Price: $650.00
Hardcover. First edition. Bookplate of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Yerby, and "The Frank Yerby's" in ink, both on the front pastedown, top corners a little bumped, near fine in very good dustwrapper with a few modest chips along the upper extremities. Laid in is a letter from a Harper & Brothers publicity direcotr sending the book to Yerby and soliciting any comments or blurbs he might want to provide (alas he did not). A collection of Cullen's best poems, selected by himself, published shortly after his death. A fascinating association copy. Yerby was the author of *The Foxes of Harrow* (1946), and a slew of other bestselling romance novels. Despite his success very few of his fans were aware that he was of mixed race, his father being part African-American and part Seminole. Only later in his career did he address race more directly, especially in his 1971 novel *The Dahomean*.
Item #463954