CULTURE IN THE SOUTH. [Signed by the Editor.]

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1934. xiv, 711 pages. Original publisher's brown cloth, lettered in gilt. 24 x 16.5 cm. Minor wear to spine ends. Occasional light foxing to leaves, marginal paper clip mark to several pages, thus good only. FIRST EDITION. PRESENTATION INSCRIPTION SIGNED BY THE EDITOR, on the front free endpaper. It reads "To Mrs. Irma L. Harris, with my very best wishes, W.T. Couch, Feb. 8, 1934." William Terry Couch (1901-1988), a Virginia native and U.N.C. graduate, was the director of the University of North Carolina Press. He was later the head of the University of Chicago Press and editor of "Collier's Encyclopedia." In the present volume, he contributes a preface and one article, "The Negro in the South." The work includes thirty other essays on labor history, economic development, education, journalism, music, folklore, and other topics in the cultural and social history of the South. PROVENANCE: Irma Liebmann Harris (1885-1969) was a member of a prominent Jewish family from Atlanta, Georgia, and a leading figure in the city's social and cultural life. She was the daughter of Isaac Liebman, founder and president of the Atlanta Paper Company (1886–1924). In 1908, she married Arthur Israel Harris (1881–1963), who succeeded Liebman as president of Atlanta Paper (1924–1946) and later served as chairman (1947–1957). The firm pioneered wet-strength packaging vital to the U.S. military during World War II and secured major contracts with Coca-Cola and other beverage companies. Irma Harris was a civic leader who served with the Girl Scouts, the Atlanta USO during World War II, Travelers Aid, the Atlanta Council of Jewish Women, and as founder and president of the Peachtree Garden Club. An avid art and book collector, she read extensively in French and German and amassed a library of thousands of volumes.…