Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales by Lyle Saxon, Robert Tallant (1945), 1st edition, hardcover (no jacket), 581 pages.

I was able to find this rare first edition (1945) for my Louisiana book collection for $50 on eBay from the Catholic Charities of NE Kansas in Overland, KS. All proceeds went to charity.

A very unique read! The extended title is a little deceiving. This was mostly centered around Creole folklore and many religious superstitions in, specifically, New Orleans in early 1940’s. But, there were many odd stories presented by way of real life interviews with a few elders of the city of New Orleans describing their memories of certain events that actually took place and some photos included to go along with the stories. Not all of the stories in this book are folklore; some are actually true. You can also Google some of the other people he writes about and actually find old photos of them online. These stories you may never hear or read about anywhere else. It seems they were gathered just in time, as some of the interviewees were in their 80’s and 90’s in the early 1940’s when these interviews were taking place. They would have been born between about 1850 and 1860 and would have seen a lot of changes over their lifetime. If you are Creole, or have Creole blood, you will find this book extremely interesting. Who knows, you might even find your ancestor’s name mentioned. I looked forward to each chapter because it was a completely different story on something that happened in New Orleans. Some stories were very intriguing, while others, I yawned my way through. ( )

How can this be the first review of this richly deserving book? Written by the many contributors to the WPA, this book is just dense with fascinating stories. The illustrators are both very good and the photos are amazing. If there is a better history of this culture, I would like to know what it is. ( )