UNCLE REMUS: His Songs and His Sayings; The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation

New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1881. First edition. First issue with "presumptive" in last line page 9 (versus "presumptuous"). An enduring though controversial Southern classic illustrated by Frederick S. Church & James H. Moser. Small 8vo brown cloth boards; gilt-stamped spine; front cover stamped in black with pictorial of Brer Rabbit smoking a pipe in gilt; green butterflies-and-flowers patterned endpapers; 231 pp. plus 8 pp. publisher’s ads. The stories, songs and sayings herein were gathered and adapted by Harris, a White journalist, from Black people enslaved on a Georgia plantation. While Harris’s intent, according to his foreword, may have been to preserve and celebrate traditional African-American oral stories, it should be noted that he nonetheless appropriated them and subsequently profited from doing so. Very good to near fine with gilt strong and spine ends and corners only slightly nicked and worn.