IOLA LEROY, OR SHADOWS UPLIFTED by Harper, Frances E. W - 1892

Philadelphia: Garrigues Brothers, 1892. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Octavo, [4], 282 pages; VG; bound in publisher's brown cloth, gilt titling to front cover and spine; mild wear and rubbing, slight fraying to head and tail of spine, hinges, light bumping to corners; two small stain dots to fore edge of text block; front gutter beginning to split, rear gutter showing webbing; frontispiece with tissue guard; very light toning and extremely light scattered smudging; early gift inscription to the sfep: "Addie D - / Jan. 5, 1803. / Compliments of my Principal / Prof. W. S. Councill"; extremely scarce; shelved case 3. Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted, is one of the first novels published by an African-American woman. While following what has been termed the "sentimental" conventions of late nineteenth-century writing about women, it also deals with serious social issues of education for women, passing, miscegenation, abolition, reconstruction, temperance, and social responsibility. [wikipedia]




According to current scholarship, it was the third novel ever published by an African-American woman, following her status as being the first African American woman to publish a short story. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in a eulogy for her: "she was not a great writer, but she wrote much worth reading. She was, above all, sincere."




Extremely scarce on the market, only one copy found on ABPC and RBH. 1351543. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.