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Caldwell, Erskine. GEORGIA BOY. Two copies, both Signet, #760 (first printing, 1950 & fifth revised printing, 1957). BOTH COPIES SIGNED BY COVER ARTIST JAMES AVATI. The 1950 paperback is in Very Good condition (lamination lift and edge-wear)) and the 1957 Version is Near Fine (just a few trifling blemishes). An unusual opportunity to see a cover artist's evolution. Avati always read the books he illustrated and from the illustrations, one can see his vision went from a kind of innocence to a far more sophisticated, if suggestive, view point only seven years later. James Avati (1912-2005) was often called "The Rembrandt" of 1940s and 1950s paperback illustration. He popularized authors such as Erskine Caldwell and William Faulkner for the average reader with alluring cover art which sported extraordinary emotional impact. His brilliance in capturing human feeling: tension or pain, suggestiveness or lust, avarice or suspicion, compassion or devotion was unrivaled during the golden age of paperback illustration. He created a visual narrative that brought characters' tragedies and yearnings to life with a tough-minded gritty realism that put Norman Rockwell to shame. We were fortunate to acquire a small cache of his famous Signet first printing covers which were signed by him at his home in Petaluma, California a half-dozen years before he passed away. To the best of our knowledge, he never signed any other books for which he provided illustrations other than the ones which were acquired on this one occasion. Please search the keywords James Avati to see if any other of his signed copies still remain in our stock. GEORGIA BOY was originally written as a hardcover in 1943 and its stories compare well to Caldwell's classics "God's Little Acre" and "Tobacco Road." However Caldwell wasn't widely read until the 1950s when Signet and James Avait led a revival of his popularity by making his books cheaply and providing compelling cover art such as that found on these copies.