Object Details
- Written by
- Zora Neale Hurston, American, 1891 - 1960
- Published by
- J. B. Lippincott & Co., American, 1836 - 1978
- Description
- A signed, first edition hardcover book with dust jacket and a clear, protective plastic cover. The book takes place in early twentieth century Florida. The book recounts the life story of the protagonist, Janie Crawford, a young woman born during the Reconstructionist Era. The dust jacket is gold with central, black and white illustration featuring a male God-like figure in against a stormy sky. The figure is throwing down gold-colored lightening and thunderbolts to the flooded land below. In the lower left corner of the image is a small grouping of trees blowing in the storm. Along the bottom of the illustration, roofs of structures can be seen just above the water. The image is bordered in black. Above and below the illustration on the front cover is text in black. At the top [THEIR EYES/WERE WATCHING GOD/A NOVEL]. Along the bottom [ZORA N· HURSTON]. The black text along the top of the white, back cover of the dust jacket reads: [Some Reviews / OF ZORA NEALE HURSTON’S PREVIOUS BOOK / “Mules and Men”], followed by five book review blurbs. The book has an orange cloth binding. The exterior spine is embossed with black text across the top and bottom of the spine. The text at the top of the spine reads [Their eyes / were / watching / God] above a black circle with a black dot in the center and [Hurston]. The name of the publishers [Lippincott] is embossed in black lettering across the bottom of the spine. The title of the book has been embossed on the front of the book in black lettering [Their eyes were / watching God / Zora Neale Hurston] just below seven black circles with black dots in the circles centers. The inside front cover is inscribed with red ink by the author [To/Miss Ruby Mc Knight/Using stars like stair-/steps -/Zora Neale Hurston]. The book is twenty chapters and two hundred and eighty-six pages long.
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- 1937
- Object number
- 2014.315ab
- Restrictions & Rights
- Unknown - Restrictions Possible
- Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
- Type
- hardcover books
- Medium
- ink on paper with cloth, cardboard, metallic paper and acetate film
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (Closed): 8 1/4 × 5 5/8 × 1 1/2 in. (21 × 14.3 × 3.8 cm)
- Place printed
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
- Place made
- Eau Gallie, Brevard County, Florida, United States, North and Central America
- Place depicted
- Eatonville, Orange County, Florida, United States, North and Central America
- Florida, United States, The Everglades, North and Central America
- See more items in
- National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
- Classification
- Books and Published Materials
- Movement
- Harlem Renaissance (New Negro Movement)
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Topic
- African American
- American South
- Language
- Literature
- Rural life
- Segregation
- Women
- Record ID
- nmaahc_2014.315ab
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd52bc7f66a-781a-4234-997b-ff836efdf860
