Later Writings

The First Separate Publication of Rawlings’s Early Short Novel
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,
Jacob’s Ladder.
Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press, 1950.  In Jacket.  Tarr A 7.

This late book republished the ‘short novel’ that had won Rawlings the Scribner’s Prize in 1931.  It had first appeared in Scribner’s Magazine in April 1931, and it was also reprinted in its entirety in 1940 in her story collection, When the Poor Whippoorwill.   This first separate publication by a Florida-based university press echoes in its illustrations the general style of Shenton’s illustrations for Rawlings’s two best-known (and best-selling) books. 

A New Major Work: The Sojourner, “Presentation Edition”
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,  The Sojourner.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953. In jacket.  Number 433 [of 600 copies], signed and numbered.  Tarr A 8.1.a.

Rawlings had begun work on this, her fifth full-length novel, in 1946, when Maxwell Perkins was still alive, but it was not till after his death in 1948 that she resumed work on it in earnest, working with another Scribner’s editor, the poet John Hall Wheelock.  She also consulted her long-time agent, Carl Brandt, and a friend Norman Berg, an editor with the rival firm of Macmillan.  The book was finally published on January 5, 1953. 

The Sojourner: Trade Issue
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,  The Sojourner.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953. In jacket.  Tarr A 8.1.a₂.

Though the lawsuit against Rawlings over Cross Creek had finished, it may have influenced her in her change of setting for the novel from Florida to an unnamed mid-Atlantic state, and her decision to set the novel back in time to the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.   Critical response was mixed, and the Book-of-the-Month Club declined to take it (though the novel was taken as a Literary Guild selection).

The Sojourner: First British Edition
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, 
The Sojourner.
London: William Heinemann, 1953. In jacket.  Tarr A 8.2.a.

The jacket blurb makes clear that this book-club edition, from Scribner plates, was issued some time after Rawlings’s death.

Repackaging The Sojourner: the People’s Edition
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, 
The Sojourner.
Chicago: People’s Book Club, 1953. In jacket.  Tarr A 8.2.a.

The jacket blurb makes clear that this book-club edition, from Scribner plates, was issued some time after Rawlings’s death.

Short Stories for the Mass Market
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,
Gal Young Un and Other Famous Stories of the Cross Creek Country.
Bantam Giant A-1209.  New York: Bantam Books, 1954.  Tarr AA 1.

All the stories in this paperback had previously been published elsewhere, but the collection represents an effort to bring Rawlings’s stories to a new market and readership.

A Posthumously-Published Children’s Story
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,
The Secret River.
Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1955.  In jacket.  Tarr A 9.1. T

This slim book was seen into print after Rawlings’s death by her literary executor Julia Bigham, daughter of the publisher Charles Scribner.  It went through three printings in a year and was named runner-up for the Newbery Medal, the leading award for children’s books. 

A One-Volume Selection from Rawlings’s Writings
Julia Scribner Bigham, ed.,
The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Reader.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1956.  In jacket.  Tarr AA 2.

For this volume, Julia Bigham, Rawlings’s literary executor, selected chapters from Rawlings’s best-known books, along with several previously-uncollected stories.