Books and Manuscripts

Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. First edition. 12mo. xvi, 125 pp. Illustrated with an engraved portrait frontispiece of Douglass. Original brown cloth, stamped in blind and in gilt, rebacked, boards worn and affected by damp; all edges trimmed; prelims and some text affected by damp; scattered light to moderate foxing and soiling to text; small tidemark along top edge of rear text leaves. Blockson 9739

A scarce first edition of Douglass's famous memoir of his life as an enslaved man. It became a bestseller upon release, selling 5,000 copies within the first four months of its publication, and became one of the most important pieces of literature in the abolitionist movement. Following its publication, Douglass spent two years in England and Ireland in fear of being recaptured by his former slave holder. While overseas, he gained a considerable amount of followers, who eventually raised enough money to purchase his emancipation. By 1850, 30,000 copies of the Narrative had been published, and it was followed by two more autobiographies, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855, see lot 2) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).