[Rarebooks] FS: Youma by Lafcadio Hearne in the rare dust jacket GREATLY DISCOUNTED

[Allington Books]

Today and Tomorrow, we offer the below-described rare copy of *Youma* by
> Lafcadio Hearn in the rare dust jacket.
>
> Multiple images can be found at www.allingtonbooks.com and the Terms of
> Sale are:
>
>
> Free Priority Mail shipping within the continental US, elsewhere at cost
>
> *Immediate payment required.  Please email us and we will send a PayPal
> invoice or provide your phone number and we will call to get your credit
> card and mailing information.*
>
> Returnable [in the same condition as delivered to Buyer] within 7 days of
> Buyer's receipt.
>
> Subject to prior sale.
>
> Hearn, Lafcadio; [Koizumi Yakumo]
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. A 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*
*Price:  WAS $4,350.00   NOW $975.00*





Stephen Johnson
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC
Rare and Collectible Books, both Antiquarian and Modern
www.allingtonbooks.com
336-414-0435