Smith, Lillian Eugenia (1897-1966) — Strange Fruit, A Novel

New York Reynal & Hitchcock | Printed by the Cornwall Press [Cornwall, New York] Later Printing pp. 314. 12mo., measuring 5.5" x 7.5". Publisher's black cloth over boards with white-and-yellow lettering to the spine, and front board; untrimmed page edges. Trifle bumping to crown and tail of spine, ever slight lean, text-block remains entirely without blemish with bright, clean, and unmarked pages and tight, sound binding; very good+ and housed in its original, unclipped, illustrated (artwork attributed to Richard Floethe) dustjacket showing light rubbing, and wear along the edges of the panels (now housed in protective mylar cover). Overall, very good+. ¶ The author was a Southern American writer, social critic, and early civil rights advocate who fearlessly addressed the entrenched racism and segregation of the United States at the height of the Jim Crow era. Her most popular work - originally titled 'Jordan Is So Chilly' - it would break one of the period’s most deeply-rooted cultural taboos through its frank portrayal of interracial relationships. Its publication provoked considerable controversy: the novel was banned in Boston and Detroit, while the United States Postal Service prohibited its interstate distribution (later rescinded following a personal appeal by the publisher to then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt). Notwithstanding, it would prove enormously popular, going on to sell over one million copies, issued in multiple later reprints, inspiring both film and stage adaptations, and rendered into several other languages.