[African-Americana] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself

Dublin: Webb and Chapman, 1845. First Dublin edition. 8vo. Lacking frontispiece. Contemporary quarter straight-grain morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt, joints rubbed; light spotting to prelims. Provenance: Sir Edward William Watkin (1819-1901), English railway magnate and member of the British Parliament (armorial book-plate).

First Dublin edition and the first to be published outside of the United States. First published in Boston in the summer of 1845, this Dublin edition was published to coincide with Douglass's anti-slavery tour of Great Britain and Ireland. A note by the Committee of the Hibernian Anti-Slavery Society is printed on the verso of the title-page.

Douglass's Narrative was 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 enslaver. 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) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).

Rare. Only one copy of the first Dublin edition has been offered at auction in the past 40 years.

[African-Americana] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself