1885 Gombo Zhebes: Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs, Selected from Six Creole Dialects

Description

First Edition, Publishers' Original Binding

The first edition of this work, only the second work Hearn published with his name to the title page.

Hearn utilises his knowledge of six Creole dialects to provide a fascinating insight into the language and its idioms.

Hearn was a resident of New Orleans for some time, with this volume being a product of Hearn's interest in the Creoles of the Louisiana and New Orleans area.

In the publisher's ocher cloth binding, one of three variants. There is no known binding priority.

With a total of seven newspaper clippings pasted to the verso of the front free endpaper, and the following two blanks. These include an illustrated portrait of Hearn, and the obituary notices of two individuals: the New York Herald and New York Times notices of the death of Mrs Louisa Zerbina Jordan, in 1889, and the obituary of her husband, Harry Jordan, in 1895. Both were professional actors.

The final clipping features a suggestion that curbing immigration would prevent the spread of illness, and a discussion of sunlight as a preventative measure against cholera.