First editions, two signed, following three Black teenage girls growing up in Harlem, including the first YA novel to narrate a lesbian relationship and, in another, the heroine's choice to get an abortion.
Overall very good plus to near fine.
Price: $300.00
"She's never afraid of the truth [...] Some writers dress the truth in a kind of elegant language, so it doesn't seem quite so blatant, so harsh, so raw. But Rosa was not afraid of that." – Maya Angelou on Rosa Guy in NYT obituary, 2012
Rosa Guy was an Afro-Trinidadian writer and one of the founders of the Harlem Writers Guild. The first two books in this trilogy focus on two sisters who are also Trinidadian American girls growing up in Harlem and adjusting to their new country as immigrants (like Guy herself did); in the second, RUBY, one of the sisters becomes romantically involved with another girl. RUBY is not only the first YA novel in the US to address lesbian relationships, but the first by a Black author to include LGBTQ+ relationships of any kind (see Haggerty and Zimmerman). The final novel in the trilogy, EDITH JACKSON, follows the life of the sisters' friend as she takes on responsibilities far too great than her eighteen years; it ends with her making the decision to have an abortion. MacArthur Fellow Jacqueline Woodson has named Rosa Guy as one of her biggest literary influences, alongside James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Virginia Hamilton. A lovely set, with two of the copies inscribed by the author.
Read more: Haggerty and Zimmerman, Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, 298; Brown, "From Outsider to Insider," Publishers Weekly, 11 February 2002; Fox, Rosa Guy Obituary, New York Times, 7 June 2012.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; Viking Press, (1973); (1976); (1978). 8'' x 5.25''; 9'' x 6''; 9'' x 6''. All volumes in original bindings with original unclipped ($5.95; $8.95; $8.95) color pictorial dust jackets; THE FRIENDS jacket design by Bob Owens; RUBY and EDITH JACKSON jacket designs by Leo and Diane Dillon. FRIENDS with brown endpapers, RUBY fore-edge machine deckle. [4], 203, [1]; [6], 217, [1]; [4], 187, [1] pages. FRIENDS inscribed by Guy on fly leaf: "To Barbara / best wishes / Rosa Guy / Dec 1973"; EDITH JACKSON inscribed by Guy on fly leaf: "To Marilyn, / best of everything, / Rosa Guy / 5/19/79." Boards with touch of sunning at edges and light bumping. FRIENDS jacket with a few minute holes at front fold, small stain near front joint; else just a bit of edgewear to jackets as a whole.
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