Kemble, E. W. COMICAL COONS. New York: R. H. Russell, 1898, (1898). FIRST EDITION. Oblong 4to - 8-15/16" x 11-7/8". Black cloth backed gray pictorial paper covered boards with edge rubbing and wear to the fore edge corners for what is a very lovely copy of the book, far superior to what one normally encounters with this title. Plain endpapers. [3] leaves, [26] leaves of plates. Printed rectos only on heavy weight glossy paper, the book contains twenty-six amazing full page black and white drawings by Kemble which illustrate thirteen different comic situations centered around African Americans; there are a pair of drawings for each comic situation. First there is a drawing that sets up the scene. This is followed by a drawing which concludes the gag; all drawings are captioned below in a stereotypical African American dialect. Kemble's drawings were finely executed and they evoked sympathy for his subjects, but still too often they conformed to the racial stereotypes prevalent at the time. Kemble's blacks are portrayed as nappy-headed, saucer-eyed, thick-lipped, grinning, ragged beings whose misfortunes were an unending source of humor for whites. Luckily for all concerned, progress has been made towards leaving the mentality portrayed in this book, back in the 19th century from whence this book was born. Internally the book is FINE. The condition of the book is VERY GOOD +. # 000668
