by Kelly Erby, Assistant Professor of History, Washburn University; PhD, Emory University
Title Page, The Garies and Their Friends,
Frank J. Webb, 1857
Cedric Dover's copy of a rare first edition of Frank J. Webb's novel The Garies and their Friends is a prized volume in MARBL's collections. Dover, a self-identified "coloured Eurasian," leftist, scholar, and crusader against racial prejudice had deep respect for African American literature. He doubtless would have wanted Webb's 1857 novel as part of his library because the book was only the second published by a black American. But Dover's notes on the book further suggest that he understood The Garies as a distinctive portrayal of interracial life and identity, and was especially interested in it for these reasons, too. For MARBL and its patrons, the book is valuable both for the rarity of the edition and for the glimpse Dover's annotations offer into his larger efforts to use literature to disrupt binary constructions of race and build global solidarity among peoples of color—an effort historians are only beginning to study.
