THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED INTERRACIAL KISS? (MEDICINE.) Edward Bliss Foote. Science in Story. Sammy Tubbs, the Boy Doctor, and Sponsie, the Troublesome Monkey. Numerous illustrations. 5 volumes. 12mo, publisher's gilt pictorial cloth, minor wear; minimal wear to contents; edges tinted red; early owner's bookplates on front pastedowns. New York: Murray Hill, 1874
The author of this series, Dr. Edward Bliss Foote (1829-1906) was a white physician, birth control and public hygiene advocate, and civil rights advocate. This very unusual series introduces children to medicine and anatomy via a young Black man and his pet, a "troublesome monkey." Foote covered some difficult territory in Volume 5, which bears a preface that some may find it "unsuitable to children." The female and male reproduction systems are shown in graphic (but not very erotic) cutaways on pages 180 1/2 and 180 3/4 ("this leaf can be cut out if thought advisable"). Yet more controversially, Sammy is described as escorting young Miss Julia Barkenstir to her home, where he gave her a not very platonic kiss goodnight in the doorway--shown here in a half-page engraving on page 203. It is believed to be the first interracial kiss depicted in the United States. The "Publishers' Announcement" on pages 228-230 of Volume 1 reveals that the numerous illustrations throughout the volumes are mostly from original pen-and-ink sketches by prominent illustrator Henry Louis Stephens. Blockson 6297.
