Description
The Good dust jacket has shipping at corners, a 1″ tear along upper front edge, and a missing piece at lower edge, light soiling, price clipped. A mylar dust jacket has been added. The Near Fine binding is white paper over boards, gold cloth-backed. Cover decorated with a cross and star in red. Very minor soiling to edges. Black-and-white illustrations by L. T. Shackelford, Jr. The binding is tight and pages are clean. The book measures 10.88″ tall x 7.9″ wide.
First Edition
About the book (from the dust jacket)
In this jubilant tale of The Nativity (as it might be narrated in the course of a sermon by an old-time Negro preaches), Julian Lee Rayford has utilized his knowledge of the lore and rich colloquial heritage of the Gulf Coast region. Told in a chanted prose, and studded with a delectable and typical choice of
detail, the story moves forward to its climax in the account of THE F IRST CHRISTMAS DINNER, with its attendant miracles. This highly original bit of authentic Southern humor is overlaid with the eternal Christmas message of Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men.
About the author (from the dust jacket)
Julian Lee Rayford has celebrated the airs, humors and passions of the city of Mobile and its surrounding country in drawings, paintings and chants, in his novel, Cottonmouth, and in his two works- in progress. Equally gifted as a muralist and as a sculptor, his polychromed bas-reliefs of American heroes, real and mythical, have been reproduced in such magazines as Esquire, Coronet, and are on permanent display in Washing-ton, D. C. A native Mobilian, Mr. Rayford has recently returned to his home after years of travel through the entire nation. leaving Mobile only briefly, from time to time, to address universities and national societies in his role one of the four supreme folksingers of America He is said to be “the greatest living authority on the restoration of the folk tale to its original oral form.
About the illustrator (from the dust jacket)
L. T. Shackleford, Ir., was born in Washington, D. C. and has lived most of his life in Mobile. except for several years in Hollywood where he was with Walt Disney, and “most of his life,’ (as he expressed it), serving in the Army. The latter period is attested by a brilliant .album of cartoons published a few years ago entitled “AS I SEE IT.” He is now doing book illustrations. and his work in THE FIRST CHRISTMAS DINNER reveals a wide creative versatility in his style.
