two-zora-neale-hurston-first-editions-including-i-their-eyes-were-watching-god-i
Lot 5015
Two Zora Neale Hurston First Editions, Including Their Eyes Were Watching God
Lot Details & Additional Photographs
To include:

Zora Neale Hurston. THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1937. First edition. Hardcover. Publisher's orange cloth-covered boards with black lettering and pattern on front cover and spine, top edge stained navy blue. 8vo; 286pp. With gift inscription: "To Edward [Farrison] / From Alice / August 19, 1939" on front free endpaper, as well as the bookplate of Dr. W. Edward Farrison on front paste-down and name of previous owner, Dr. Patsy Perry, former English professor at North Carolina Central University in Durham, written in ink on front and rear paste-down. Whiteman p. 30; Perry 320. (Boards lightly scuffed with mild edgewear and corners slightly bumped, spine sunned with rubbing at head and joints and several closed tears at tail, slight separation from text block with spine very subtly cocked; area of grime on rear paste-down, first leaf with small tear, minor cracking at gutter between first page and title, a few pages with underling in red, and occasional small mark or finger grime; overall light toning to interior with pages generally extremely clean and crisp. A very good copy of Hurston's second and best-known novel, lacking dust jacket.)

Zora Neale Hurston. MOSES: MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1939. Stated first edition; second issue. Hardcover. Light green cloth-covered boards with dark green lettering and design. 8vo; 351pp. Bookplate of Dr. W. Edward Farrison on front paste-down and name of Dr. Patsy Perry written in ink on front and rear paste-down, both former English professors at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Whiteman p. 30. (Boards with areas of scuffing and sunning to lower board; spine heavily sunned with light rubbing and thinning to cloth, one small damp stain, and wear at ends including light fraying, separation from text block, staining/soiling at joints; staining and scuffing at endpapers, pages very lightly toned and with the exception of an occasional minor stain and minor offsetting they are extremely clean and unmarked. A good copy of Hurston's third novel, lacking dust jacket.)

8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.; 8 5/8 x 6 in.

"In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Miss Hurston has fulfilled the early promise of her first books. Her writing is of the essence of poetry, deeply communicative, possessed of a primitive rhythm that speaks truly to the consciousness even before thought can form. This new novel is one of warmth and humor and rich, transcendent beauty" (p. [1]). One of the most important novels of the Harlem Renaissance, Their Eyes Were Watching God achieved renewed attention beginning in the late 1970s and is know often considered one of the greatest works of 20th-century fiction.