'Sieur George': Original Manuscript

New Orleans, 1873. Manuscript. Hardcover. Very good. 26 pages, lacking the last page. The manuscript is in Cable's neat hand with corrections on every page. Very good in a red cloth slipcase. An exceptional early work of Creole literature.

‘Sieur George’ is Cable's first published short story, appearing in Scribner’s Monthly in 1873, and drawing readers inside the French Quarter’s historic LeMonnier House at 640 Royal Street. The story was deemed a critical and popular success and Scribners went on to publish six more of his stories, which were then collected and printed in Cable’s first book “Old Creole Days”. Cable is considered one of the most important southern writers of the late 19th century, a contemporary and friend of Twain and predecessor to William Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren.

Cable was quite progressive for his time, writing in favor of prison reform, and an outspoken advocate against Jim Crow. This coupled with two 1885 essays in favor of racial equality, "The Freedman's Case in Equity" and "The Silent South," generated enough hostility against him that he left New Orleans and relocated with his family to Northampton, Mass., where he continued to write about the South.