CHESNUTT, CHARLES

The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line. Frontispiece and illustrations. 8vo, decoratively stamped salmon colored cloth; some light fading and rubbing, tiny ink stain on front cover, a few underlinings. Boston, 1899 FIRST EDITION of Chesnutt's scarce second book of fiction. Chesnutt (1858-1936) was the acknowledged leading African-American writer of fiction from the appearance of his Conjure Woman (1899) until 1920 when, due to ill health, he virtually stopped writing. His first work was so highly regarded by publishers Houghton Mifflin of Boston that they employed premier book designer Bruce Rogers to produce a limited edition to appear simultaneously with the trade edition.