New York: Cosmopolitan, 1931. First edition. One of 250 signed copies. Finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Half morocco with gilt on spine and boards. Marbled endpapers. In all, a lovely copy of this important post-WWI novel.

A prolific novelist and short story writer, Hurst's work was highly popular in the years after World War I. "Back Street is one of her two best remembered novels. The story of a woman who devoted her life to being the mistress of a married man, it was twice adapted into film, first in 1941 and then again in 1961" (St. Claire-Jackson). Ideas about the social expectations placed on women in a modern world -- and how women's race and religion affected their social standing -- shaped all of Hurst's works. "She wrote of immigrants and shop girls, love, drama, and trauma" (Kroeger). (Item #2638)