Joel Chandler Harris

A first edition, first issue of Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris.

• Joel Chandler Harris (American).
• New York: D. Appleton, 1881.
• 231, [1], [8] pages. 
• Illustrated by Frederick Church and James Moser. Publisher's catalogue at rear
• With "presumptive" misspelled on p. 9, bottom line, and without ads for this title in rear.
• Original green cloth stamped in gold and black, housed in custom quarter green goatskin clamshell box.

First edition of the first extensive printed record of the tales of Brer Rabbit and other oral traditions kept by enslaved African Americans before emancipation.

"If any collection evokes the hushed-up paradoxes of African American folklore, it is Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories." – Gates & Tatar

Georgia-born white journalist Harris sought to document the cultural history of African Americans in his Uncle Remus project, and with his success "a vibrant storytelling culture for adults began its long migration from campfires and slave cabins into the nursery" (Gates & Tatar). Harris painted the plantation life of enslaved people as idyllic, and his collection has depicted, created, and circulated racist stereotypes of African Americans.

As complicated as such a legacy is, the collection also acts as a printed record of supreme importance for African-American oral traditions.