xvi, 125, [1] pages, [1] leaf of plates : portrait ; 18 cm
Type:
Biography
Autobiographies
Biographies
History
Engravings
Publishers' cloth bindings (Binding)
Place:
United States
Maryland
Date:
1845
19th century
Notes:
First edition
"Preface" on pages [iii]-xii signed and dated: Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Boston, May 1, 1845
Frontispiece is engraved portrait of Frederick Douglass
"Letter from Wendell Phillips, Esq.": pages [xiii]-xvi
Last page blank
Checklist of American imprints, 45-2043
Library Company of Philadelphia. Afro-Americana, 1553-1906, 3234
Sabin, J. Dictionary of books relating to America from its discovery to the present time, 20711
SCDIRB copy (39088006811202) stamped on title page: Smithsonian Institution National Museum Nov 10 1931 [manuscript accession no.] 288832.
SCDIRB copy in contemporary publisher's binding; brown diaper grain cloth; covers blocked with blind decoration of scrollwork, front cover with title in gilt.
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