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The French Quarter
An Informal History of the New Orlean Underworld
Herbert Asbury
Hardbound with Original Dustjacket
Pages: 462
Publisher: Garden City Publishing
Date Published:1938
Home to the notorious "Blue Book," which listed the names and addresses of every
prostitute living in the city, New Orleans's infamous red-light district gained a
reputation as one of the most raucous in the world. But the New Orleans underworld
consisted of much more than the local bordellos.
A moving panorama of the people, places, and events that for almost a century and a half
made New Orleans the gayest and the most glamorously wicked city on the North American continent.
It is the first complete and connected history, projected against a unique background of
political corruption and legitimate sin, of the New Orleans underworld from the correction
girls of colonial days down to the World War and Prohibition, which closed the notorious
Storyville district and gave an entirely new direction to criminal activity.
Here are vivid accounts of the riff raff with which John Law's Mississippi Company colonized
the city; the roistering bullies of the flatboats and their haunts ashore; the spectacular
gamblers of the river and the elegant establishments of the Vieux Carre; the pirates and
filibusters who made New Orleans their headquarters; Jean Bras Coupe and the slave dances
of Congo Square; Marie Laveau and the Voodoo cult; famous coffeehouses and saloons;
the quadroon balls; the dueling; the Vigilance Committee; the conflicts between the Creoles
and the Americans and the establishment of an American City above Canal Street;
the dance-houses of Gallatin Street and the doings of such Gallatin Street worthies as
Bricktop Jackson, Bridget Fury, and the Live Oak Boys; the activities of the Mafia and
the Black Hand, and the lynching of eleven Italians by a mob; the picturesque bordellos of
Basin Street, and the lives of such famous courtesans as Kate Townsend, Hattie Hamilton,
Fanny Sweet, Josie Arlington, and Countess Willie V. Piazza; and the origin of Dixie,
the free lunch, and the jazz band.
The illustrations, mainly from old prints, include reproductions of pages from the famous
Blue Book, the directory of the Red Light District and perhaps the most extraordinary
publication ever offered for sale in America.
This book has been gently read, the pages are still clean and ever so slighly yellowed
with age, and the spine is solid.
Order by ITEM #BKS-2-09
PRICE: $54.95
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