The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life

Hodder and Stroughton, 1898. Hardcover. 383 pages. A Gothic novel of race relations in New Orleans following the Louisiana Purchase. Noted literary scholar Louis D. Rubin Jr. wrote of the book: 'In an important sense, George W. Cable's The Grandissimes (1880) may be said to be the first 'modern' Southern novel. For if the modern Southern novel has been characterized by its uncompromising attempt to deal honestly with the complexity of Southern racial experience, then The Grandissimes was the first important work of fiction written by a Southerner in which that intention is manifested' (The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, 1969). Cable was a close friend of Mark Twain and the two would later do reading tours together known as the 'Twins of Genius' tour. Twain mentions The Grandissimes in his memoir Life on the Mississippi where he says of Cable 'In him the South has found a masterly delineator of its interior life and its history.' Original serialized in Scribner's monthly, first published in book form in 1880. Inscribed on half-title page: 'Accept with great pleasure your kind invitation to be present. Yours truly, G. W. Cable.' Second British edition. Very good copy in cloth with gold lettering on spine. Edge wear with boards showing on lower front edges. Spine faded. Inner hinges cracked but text solid. No dust jacket.