8vo. Original burnt orange cloth (1-inch split to upper portion of front hinge); original unclipped pictorial dust jacket designed by Covarrubias (toning, darkening to spine, significant repairs and restoration evident on verso of dust jacket).

FIRST EDITION of Hurston's autoethnographical collection of African American folklore cultivated by Hurston during visits to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida and New Orleans. Though well-received by white audiences, particularly in the South, Mules and Men faced criticism from Hurston's contemporaries for its "rosy" depiction of Black life in the South at a time when lynchings and racial terrorism were rampant. The work fell into obscurity before being rediscovered by Alice Walker in 1975. Blockson 852.