STRONG HEARTS

NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899. First Edition. Signed inscription from Cable on a front blank page: "Wishing you the strength that makes for sweetness, ever-Yours truly, G.W. Cable. Northampton, Mass. 1900." With another interesting presentation on the front endpaper, not by Cable: "To Mary D. `Thirsty,' In memory of our good times and in hopes of more. `Poppy' May 1905." [BAL 2365; 10,000 copies printed]. George Washington Cable [1844-1925] was an American novelist known for realistic portrayals of Creole life in his native New Orleans. He has been called "the most important southern artist working in the late 19th century," as well as "the first modern southern writer." In his treatment of racism and mixed-race families, Cable's fiction has been thought to anticipate that of William Faulkner. Cable also wrote articles critical of contemporary society. Due to hostility against him after two 1885 essays encouraging racial equality and opposing Jim Crow, Cable moved with his family to Northampton, Massachusetts. He lived there for the next thirty years, then moved to Florida, where he died. "Strong Hearts" contains three stories ('The Solitary;' 'The Taxidermist;' and 'The Entomologist')- all take place in south Louisiana and include Creole characters, among others. 12mo, pictorial green cloth, stamped in gilt; 214 pages. Binding By Margaret Armstrong.. Very Good (nice, bright covers with spine unfaded; contents clean & tight with minor brown spot on the title page). A nice copy!