Youma: The Story of a West-Indian Slave [in the RARE 19th Century DUST JACKET]

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/fine. Fine copy of the first edition, first printing, in the Publisher's original decorated cloth with the title label applied to the front board and the title and author label applied to the spine panel (the spine shows some minor sunning, most notably to the spine label due to the dust jacket cut out -- see below, and the boards show some minor corner rubs; multiple pages are unopened, or are only partially opened, on their leading fold, showing the book to have been only partially read -- or possibly entirely unread); in a Very Good + example of the EXCEEDINGLY RARE UNSOPHISTICATED dust jacket -- original to this copy of the book -- with scattered small tears and chips and with the arc over the spine label split on one side and nearly so on the other. The viewer will notice, of course, that the dust jacket is plain as it is from the period when jackets were used not to sell the book but only to keep the book clean until put out for sale. Virtually all of the dust jackets for the book would have been discarded. The viewer also will see that the jacket's spine panel was long ago clipped to reveal the author's last name and the book's title — a common warehouse practice — which would have made locating the book on the warehouse shelves easier than otherwise would have been the case. At the time this book was issued, dust jackets were not generally used to help sell the book and thus lacked the decoration one sees on later-published books. Such jackets also often did not show one or all of the title, the author, or the publisher — all three being absent from this dust jacket, as the dust jacket's sole purpose was to keep the book clean until it was put out (typically without the dust jacket) for sale. Thus, this book is EXCEEDINGLY RARE in the dust jacket and is a part of book publishing history, making it an important copy as well. Lafcadio Hearn is known for this works about Japan, New Orleans, and the West Indies. Hearn, an Irish Immigrant to America, lived in Cincinnati where Hearn, on June 14,1874, married Alethea ("Mattie") Foley, a 20-year-old African American woman, an action in violation of Ohio's then-existing anti-miscegenation law. (Hearn and Foley later separated then attempted reconciliation several times before finally divorcing in 1877.) Subsequent to his divorce, Hearn relocated to New Orleans from which, in 1887, Harper's Magazine sent him to the West Indies as a correspondent. Hearn spent two years in Martinique writing for the magazine and it was there that he gathered enough material to write both "Two Years in the French West Indies" and "Youma, The Story of a West-Indian Slave" each of which was published in 1890, the year that Hearn emigrated to Japan where he died (and was buried) at age 54. In our experience, each of these West Indies works are exceedingly difficult to find on the market in their original dust jackets. (The first edition, first issue, dust jacket for each book would have lacked both lettering and decoration.) Notably, Hearn's West Indies writings constitute the great majority of Hearn's Western Writings. A Fine copy of this notable work of the highly-notable author Lafcadio Hearn in the RARE ORIGINAL PLAIN 19th CENTURY DUST JACKET -- the EARLIEST JACKETED HEARN BOOK on the market at the time this listing was created. An EXCEEDINGLY RARE COPY IN THE ORIGINAL, UNSOPHISTICATED, 19th CENTURY DUST JACKET; A REMARKABLE SURVIVAL. Fine / very good +. Item #895