John Henry: The Rambling Black Ulysses

Chicago: Albert Whitman & Company. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. 1942. First Edition. Hardcover. [minor wear to book at extremities; jacket a little rubbed/scuffed on front panel, moderate wear and shallow chipping along top edge, uneven fading to rear panel, still colorful and attractive]. (pen & ink drawings, illustrated endpapers) An enhanced retelling of the John Henry legend, "a lusty, robust tale of adventure interwoven with many typical songs and tall tales of the Old South." The author somewhat specialized in this sort of thing, having previously written "epics of American folklore" about Paul Bunyan, Winabojo (an Ojibwe spirit-boy) and Pecos Bill -- the latter the recipient of a Newbery Honor in 1938. The book's illustrator, Roy La Grone, was a faculty member at the Tuskegee Institute. .