[SOCIAL FICTION] [APPALACHIA] [KENTUCKY] BUCK, Charles Neville

The Call of the Cumberlands

New York: W.J. Watt, 1913. First Edition. Octavo (19cm). Pictorial cloth boards, lettered in black; 348pp; 4 inserted leaves of plates (incl. frontis.) by Douglas Duer. Trivial rubbing to board edges; still a tight, bright, Near Fine copy, lacking the scarce jacket.

Buck's fourth published novel (of more than 20), adhering to what Boger calls "the general theme and tenor of all Buck's works": an "outlander" (in this case a sensitive artist from a northern city) arrives in an isolated mountain community in Kentucky, where he finds himself unwittingly ensnarled in a generations-old family feud; he falls in love with the heroine, daughter of one of the feuding families, and through their marriage brings peace to the community. Buck's novels, while undeniably treacly, are notable for their sympathetic portrayal of Kentucky mountain folk and for their progressive portrayal of mountain women as active, assertive characters. HANNA 500. BOGER 38. COAN, p.68.

Price: $60.00

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