Dorothy West. THE LIVING IS EASY. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948. First edition with date on title page. Hardcover. Tan cloth-covered boards stamped in brown. 8vo; [4], 347pp. Names of previous owners, Dr. W. Edward Farrison and Dr. Perry, both former English professors at North Carolina Central University in Durham, written in ink on front paste-down. Whiteman p. 47.

8 3/8 x 5 7/8 in.

Dorothy West (1907-1998) was born and raised in Boston where she started writing as a young child. She later moved to Harlem where she met fellow writers such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Carl Van Vechten. West published her work in magazines and newspapers, edited two important magazines, wrote numerous short stories, and published two novels. The Living is Easy, written while West was living in Martha's Vineyard, is described by The Feminist Press who republished the book in 2020 as "An insightful, witty novel set in early twentieth-century black Boston by the Harlem Renaissance's youngest member." (https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/the-living-is-e)

Boards with edgewear, (2) corners heavily rubbed, fraying and wear at spine ends, cloth thinning at rear joint with several small holes, and slight separation from text block at head; purchase location written in pencil on first free endpaper verso, occasional light cracking at gutter, pages very lightly toned with occasional small mark, edge tear, stain, light grime, or crease, overall a clean interior. A good to very good copy, lacking scarce jacket except for a small portion (likely from back of jacket) now pasted to final free endpaper verso.