[AFRICAN-AMERICANA]. [WOMAN AUTHOR]. Biographical Sketches and Interesting Anecdotes of Persons of Color by Mott, Abigail - 1837

New York: Mahlon Day, 1837. Second edition. Very good. 8vo. 260 pp. (pp. 257-260 wrongly bound following title-page, some inherent foxing or blemishes). Original publisher's diapered maroon cloth (fading along spine and irregular section of the back cover, minor wear along extremities). The binding is TIGHT and the are hinges PERFECT, with NO ugly stamps or objectionable defects. NOT ex-library!

EXCELLENT COPY, OWNED BY TWO QUAKER WOMEN AS EARLY AS 1845. THIS IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST COMPILATIONS OF BIOGRAPHIES OF PERSONS OF COLOR, prominent, mythical, and unknown. It is a book written with pride, sadness, and anger -- but never of resignation or submission. In this extraordinary book appear thirty "Biographical Sketches," seventy-nine "Anecdotes," and eighteen poems. This is the preferred second edition, greatly enlarged from the first of 1826. Our copy is completely unsophisticated; although there are some minor faults it is exceptional condition, especially for an 1830s American imprint, and is easily the best on the market at present.

Abigail Mott (1795-1846) was a Quaker residing in Mamaroneck and Purchase, N.Y. and later Burlington, N.J. She was a tireless champion of African American rights and the abolition of slavery.

¶ The first owners of our copy were Deborah Howland (1795-1876) and her sister Anna (1801-1865) of East Greenwich, R.I., with their hand-written booklabel pasted inside the front cover dated 1845. Their father Thomas Howland (1764-1845), and indeed the entire family, was involved in the anti-war and anti-slavery movements. The Howland family papers are at UMass Amherst.

Sabin 51111. LCP Afro-Americana 6901.