Old Creole Days

Two volumes, complete (First and Second Series); 12mo., blue cloth lettered in gilt; top edges gilt; tender front hinge, loosened front endpaper, slightly rubbed. Early printings. BAL 2330. Presentation copies, twice inscribed to Helena de Kay Gilder: "To Mrs. Richard Watson Gilder from Geo. W. Cable, N. Y., Nov. 13, 1883," on the half-title pages; with Helena's ownership signatures on both front pastedowns and her husband Richard's library bookplates on both front endpapers ---- Helena de Kay, an accomplished artist who served as an occasional model and was the unrequited love of the painter Winslow Homer, helped found the Society of American Artists. She married Richard Watson Gilder, the iconic editor of Century Magazine, to which their friend Cable often contributed. A significant work with a distinguished provenance.