SCDIRB copy inscribed in pencil on front free endpaper: Lucy L Brown / Book Waterloo Seneca / Co N.Y. 1848.
SCDIRB copy in contemporary publisher's binding of brown beaded cloth, covers blocked with scrollwork decoration in blind, title in gilt on spine.
Summary:
The author was born into slavery but escaped in 1838, quickly becoming involved in the abolitionist movement. Following the 1845 publication of this, his first autobiography, he risked recognition and recapture by his owner, and so fled the United States. The Dublin reissue, also of 1845, with a preface by Douglass, explains his reasons for his journey to Britain. Douglass describes his early life and the growing awareness of the injustices he suffered. The beatings he witnessed and received himself are described in painful detail. It was one of the most widely read North Americn slave narratives, selling 4,500 copies in the first four months of publication. In factual detail, the text describes the events of his life and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century
