SOURCE: Davis, Arthur P. “The Garies and Their Friends: A Neglected Pioneer Novel.”¹ CLA Journal 13, no. 1 (September 1969): 27-34.

In the following essay, Davis emphasizes the significance of Webb's The Garies and Their Friends while also elaborating on its shortcomings and the reasons for its neglect.

Most students of Negro American literature know The Garies and Their Friends, by Frank J. Webb, only from what they have read in Loggins, Bone, and Gloster; and there is not much to be found in these works. Loggins gives the book two and one-half pages; Bone, one; and Gloster, a half page.² Moreover, few scholars have been able to read the novel because it is a rare book. There is a copy at Howard University, another at the British Museum, but none in the Library of Congress. There must be at least a few others extant, but obviously not many. And yet...