SOURCE: Lapsansky, Phillip S. “Afro-Americana: Frank J. Webb and His Friends.” In The Annual Report of the Library Company of Philadelphia for the Year 1990, pp 27-43. Philadelphia: Library Company of Philadelphia, 1991.

In the following excerpt, Lapsansky discusses how Webb's personal life and experiences affected the portrayal of Philadelphia in The Garies and Their Friends.

For nearly two decades Frank J. Webb's novel The Garies and Their Friends (London and New York, 1857) has eluded us. When we narrowly missed buying a copy three years ago, we alerted international dealer and collector circles of our interest. This year a British dealer finally offered us one. This is the second novel by an African-American writer, which in itself makes the work of extreme interest to us. But, even more interesting, Frank Webb was a Philadelphian, a product of this city's black middle class, and his novel is set in Philadelphia, in...