1. (African Americans) African Civilization Society. [New York: n.d. circa 1865?] 12mo, 4 pp., removed from bound volume, ex-library, old oval blindstamp, some staining, else a good copy. Preamble and thirteen article constitution for this organization, the objects of which were “the evangelization and civilization of Africa, and of the descendants of African ancestors in any portion of the earth wherever dispersed.” Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana.                                                  $ 100.00

2. (African Americans) Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine. Volume I. Edited by Elizur Wright, Jun.

New York: Published the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1835-1836, octavo, viii, 420 pp., bound in contemporary ½ leather, binding worn, leather dry, covers detached, ex-library, bookplate, text clean else good. Published from 1835-1837. Sabin 66954; American Imprints 33905                                                                                                     $ 250.00

3. (African Americans – American Colonization Society) The Appeal is made by order of the Board of Directors of the American Colonization Society. We earnestly solicit you to prepare an editorial commendation of it, or to give the enclosed slip an early insertion in your paper. TWO THOUSAND FREEDMEN Are Pleading for the means of emigrating to the land from which their ancestors were brought by violence and fraud to be the slaves of strangers…Colonization Rooms, Washington, D.C., April 1868.

[Washington: 1868] quarto, three pages, printed on a four page bi-folium, old folds, else a very good clean copy. This circular solicits donations in order to aid newly freed slaves in their desire to emigrate to Liberia. The circular includes ten printed testimonials, many written by former slaves themselves, expressing their desire to go to Africa.                                                                                                              $ 375.00

4. (African Americans) The American Free Produce Journal.  Vol. I. No. 1

Philadelphia: October 1, 1842, octavo, 4 pp., removed from bound volume, else a very good clean copy.

“At the late Annual Meeting of “The American Free Produce Association,” it was resolved to appoint agents to introduce the subject of abstaining from the produce of slave labor, into the several anti-slavery societies in the United States…” Includes a statement by Thomas S. Cavender, corresponding secretary of the association and an Address to Professing Christians, by its president James Mott. Formerly known as the Requited Labor Association, this Philadelphia based organization sought to put economic pressure upon slaveholders by abstaining from the use and purchase of goods and produce produced by slave labor. Unlisted on OCLC. American Imprints 42-132, one location only. Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana                                                    $ 250.00

5. (African Americans) Armstrong, George Dodd, A Discussion on Slaveholding. Three Letters to a Conservative, by George D. Armstrong, D.D., of Virginia. And Three Conservative Replies, by C. Van Rensselaer, D.D., of New Jersey. I. On the Scriptural Doctrine of Slaveholding. II. On Emancipation and the Church. III. On the Historical Argument for Slaveholding. Together with Three Rejoinders, on Slaveholding, Schemes of Emancipation, Colonization, Etc.

Philadelphia: Joseph M. Wilson, 1858, first edition, octavo, 137, [1] pp., original printed wrappers, some minor soiling and wear to wrappers, else a very good, clean copy. Sabin 20255; Dumond p. 21; not in Afro-Americana                                                                                           $ 125.00

6. (African Americans) Bacon, Benjamin C., Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia. Taken by Benjamin C. Bacon, and Published by Order of the Board of Education of “The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery,” etc.

Philadelphia: T. Ellwood Chapman, 1856, first edition, octavo, 16 page pamphlet, removed from bound volume, ex-library, old oval hand stamp, else very good. First edition of the third, most detailed study of the Philadelphia African American community. Bacon placed considerable emphasis on literacy figures and schools. This work was amongst those used by W. E. B. Dubois in his major work on the Philadelphia Negro, 1889. Blockson 10101; Sabin 2639; Afro-Americana 160                                                                                                          $ 1000.00

7. (African Americans) Birney, James G., The Sinfulness of Slaveholding in all Circumstances; Tested by Reason and Scripture.

Detroit: Printed by Charles Willcox, 1846, first edition, octavo, 60 page pamphlet, removed from bound volume, retains original front wrapper, some light toning to text, else a very good copy. Sabin 581; Imprints Inventory (MI) 623; American Imprints 46-886, five locations. Not in Afro-Americana                                                                                  $ 300.00

8. (African Americans) [Bradford, Vincent Loockermans] Letters to the People of Pennsylvania on the Political Principles of the Free Soil Party. By Jacob Leisler.

Philadelphia: 1850, first edition, octavo, 21 page pamphlet, removed, lacking wrappers, some tanning to text, else a very good copy. Consists of a series of seven letters written by Bradford, originally published in the Pennsylvanian and the Plain Dealer, in 1848 and 1850. Jacob Leisler is a pseudonym for Vincent L. Bradford. Sabin 60210; Afro-Americana 1470; OCLC locates six microfilm copies only.                                        $ 250.00

 9. (African Americans) Breckinridge, Robert Jefferson, Speech of Robert J. Breckinridge, Delivered in the Court-House Yard at Lexington, Ky., On the 12^th day of October, 1840, In Reply to “The Speech of Robert Wickliffe, Delivered in the Court-House in Lexington, on the 10^th day of August, 1840, upon the Occasion of Resigning his seat as Senator from the County of Fayette;” and In Defense of his Personal Character, his Political Principles and his Religious Connexions: More Particularly in Regard to the Questions of the Power of the Legislature on the Subject of Slavery, of the Importation of Slaves, of Abolitionism, of British Influence, of Religious Liberty, etc.

Baltimore: Printed by Richard J. Matchett, 1841, second edition, octavo, 32 page pamphlet, original printed wrappers, text foxed, old postal cancellation on front wrapper, contemporary ownership signature, else very good.

Dumond p. 31; this edition not in Sabin; American Imprints 41-811, five locations; Afro-Americana 1517                                                        $ 150.00

10. (African Americans) Bushnell, Horace, A Discourse on the Slavery Question. Delivered in the North Church, Hartford, Thursday Evening, Jan. 10, 1839.

Hartford: Printed by Case, Tiffany & Co., 1839, first edition, octavo, 32 page pamphlet, removed from bound volume, lacking wrappers, some light dust soiling and wear, else a good clean copy. This edition not in Afro-Americana; American Imprints 54780; Dumond p. 33; Sabin 9544                                                                                                                   $ 100.00

11. (African Americans) [Burnett, Peter Hardeman] Address to the Inhabitants of New Mexico and California, on the Omission by Congress to Provide them with Territorial Governments, and on the Social and Political Evils of Slavery.

New York: Published by the American & Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1849, first edition, 12mo, 56 page pamphlet, sewn, ex-library, old oval blindstamp, text somewhat foxed, few ink spots on title-page, else a good copy. Burnett one of the leaders in the fight for California statehood, presents his arguments for a California without slavery. Later in 1849 he became California’s first state governor. “This work is rarely met with.” – Eberstadt 133:165. Signed at p. 18 William Jay, Arthur Tappan, Simeon S. Jocelyn and 18 others.

Afro-Americana 5249; Cowan p. 85; Dumond p. 7; Howes B-999 (b), Sabin 35868                                                                                              $ 375.00                                                                                                                

12. (African Americans) Carey, H. C., The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign: Why it Exists, and How it May Be Extinguished.

Philadelphia: A. Hart, Late Carey & Hart, 1853, first edition, 12mo, 426, [2] pp., ads, original cloth, chip missing from head of spine, ex-library, bookplate, and handstamps, some wear at base of spine, else very good. Presentation copy from the author. Comprehensive world wide study of slavery from a historical and economic perspective. Afro-Americana 2025; Sabin 10840                                                                               $ 250.00                                                                                                 

13. (African Americans) Catto, William T., A Semi-Centenary Discourse, Delivered in The First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, on the Fourth Sabbath of May, 1857: With a History of the Church from its First Organization: Including a Brief Notice of Rev. John Gloucester, its First Pastor. By Rev. William T. Catto, Pastor. Also, An Appendix, Containing Sketches of all the Colored Churches in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia: Joseph M. Wilson, 1857, first edition, octavo, 111, [1] page pamphlet, ex-library, handstamps, original printed wrappers, wrappers chipped, with some loss, else very good. William T. Catto, was a free black born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1810, he brought his family north after 1840 to Philadelphia. His son Octavius T. Catto, was an important civil rights leader in Philadelphia, murdered by a mob in 1871. The present work provides a detailed history of the First African Presbyterian Church, founded in 1807 by John Gloucester. In addition Catto appends sketches of eighteen black churches in Philadelphia. Very scarce. Afro-Americana 2129; Blockson 8983; Sabin 11558; Work p. 405                                                                                                        $ 2000.00

14. (African Americans) [Child, David Lee] The Despotism of Freedom; or the Tyranny and Cruelty of American Republican Slave-Masters, Shown to be the Worst in the World; in a Speech, Delivered at the First Anniversary of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, 1833. Abolitionist’s Library No. 1.

Boston: Published by the Boston Young Men’s Anti-Slavery Association, for the Diffusion of Truth, 1833, first edition, iv, [5] – 72 pp., original printed wrappers, light scattered foxing to text, else a very good copy. Afro-Americana 2263; American Imprints 18211; Dumond p. 37; Sabin 12695                                                                                                      $ 150.00

15. (African Americans) Child, Lydia Maria, The Evils of Slavery, and the Cure of Slavery. The First Proved by the Opinions of Southerners Themselves the Last Shown by Historical Evidence.

Newburyport: Published by Charles Whipple, 1836, 19, 1 p. publisher’s advt., removed from bound volume, lacking wrappers, scattered foxing to text, else a good copy. Afro-Americana 2276; American Imprints 36641; BAL 3133; Dumond p. 38; cf Sabin 12726                               $ 250.00

16. (African Americans) Christianity versus Treason and Slavery. Religion Rebuking Sedition.

[N.p., N.d., c. 1864] octavo, 16 pp., sewn, self wraps, ex-library, hand-stamps, some dust soiling to text, else a good copy. Presents statements and testimony by the principal churches of the country in support of the Union and the suppression of the rebellion and the elimination of the institution of slavery. Afro-Americana 2304                $ 100.00                                                                               

17. (African Americans) Cornish, Samuel E., and Wright, Theodore S., The Colonization Scheme Considered, in its Rejection by the Colored People – In its Tendency to Uphold Caste – In its Unfitness for Christianizing and Civilizing The Aborigines of Africa, and for Putting a Stop to The African Slave Trade: In a Leter to the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen and the Hon. Benjamin F. Butler; by Samuel E. Cornish and Theodore S. Wright, Pastors of the Colored Presbyterian Churches in the Cities of Newark and New York.

Newark: Printed by Aaron Guest, 1840, first edition, octavo, 26, [1l] original printed wrappers, ex-library, old oval blind-stamp, some penciled markings, else very good. Apparently a presentation copy from Theodore Wright to his father, inscription on front wrapper reads: “Rich. P. G. Wright with esteem from his son.”

This pamphlet sets forth the objections of two African Americans to the plans of colonization schemes: “… all schemes which contemplate our removal from the land of our birth, and affections will be looked upon as speculative, detestable and traitorous.”

The authors were both black Presbyterian ministers, Theodore S. Wright (1797-1847) was born to free parents in Providence, Rhode Island, he was a member of the Abolitionist movement, a minister in the Presbyterian church and a conductor for the Underground Railroad in New York. Samuel Eli Cornish (1795-1858) was born to free parents in Sussex County, Delaware. He moved to Philadelphia in 1815 and there came under the influence of John Gloucester, the minister who founded the first black Presbyterian church. Cornish established himself in New York City in 1821, where he founded a church known as the New Demeter Street Presbyterian Church. He married and had four children.

Cornish’s reputation rests more on his work with abolitionist organizations than on his career as a minister. In 1827 and 28 he was an agent for the New York African Free Schools, charged with visiting parents in their homes to encourage attendance. In 1831 the he was appointed at the First Annual Convention of the People of Color, as agent to collect funds for a college for African Americans to be built in New Haven, Connecticut. A project which due to overwhelming local opposition was never completed.

Cornish joined John Russwurm in 1827 in editing Freedom’s Journal, which first appeared March 16^th. Russwurm later assumed full editorial control, but Cornish took over the paper in 1829 when Russwurm was forced to resign due to his support of the colonization movement. Cornish continued the paper for less than a year under the name Rights for All. Cornish was with William Lloyd Garrison a founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, he helped found a branch of the New York Anti-Slavery Society. He also joined the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In 1837 he became the editor of the Colored American. Cornish was more conservative in his views than many younger members of the anti-slavery movement. He was part of the minority opposing the use of demonstrations and force to resist enforcement of fugitive slave laws. This led to his estrangement from David Ruggles and the New York Committee of Vigilance, an organization dedicated to helping fugitive slaves.

In 1838 Cornish and his family moved to New Jersey, in 1840 he headed a church in Newark for a brief period, in 1844 he moved back to New York, and then to Brooklyn where he died in 1858.

American Imprints 40-1681; Dumond p. 44; Sabin 16806; Work p. 353; not in Blockson Collection Catalog; not in Library Company, Afro-Americana Catalog.

See: Oxford Companion to African American Literature, pp. 175-176; Dann, Martin, The Black Press 1827-1890; Penn, I. Garland, The Afro-American Press and its Editors                                                                             $ 5000.00

18. (African Americans) De Charms, Richard, Some Views of Freedom and Slavery in the Light of the New Jerusalem.

Philadelphia: Stereotyped for the Author, by George Charles, 1851, third thousand, 12mo, 108 pp., original printed wrappers, some crinkling and light wear to wrappers, ex-library, bookplate on inside of front wrapper, else a very good copy. Slavery from the Swedenborgian perspective. “…we say, slavery is not, in our view, so much objected to on account of its being a physical evil to the black man, as on account of its being a civil, political, moral and spiritual evil to the white man.” Sabin 19143; not in Afro-Americana                                                                         $ 100.00

19. (African Americans) Elder, William, Emancipation: Its Conditions and Policy. A Lecture by Dr. Elder, of Philadelphia, at the Tremont Temple, Boston. Reported from Memory.

Philadelphia: McLaughlin Brothers’ Steam-power Book and Job Printing Establishment, 1856, octavo, 16 page pamphlet, removed from bound volume, ex-library, old oval blindstamp, lacking wrappers, some light dust soiling, else a very good copy. cf Sabin 22097; not in Afro-Americana                                                                                            $ 125.00 

20. (African Americans) Emancipation Day or Slavery Days. The Music of this Song may be obtained of J. H. Johnson, 25 N. Tenth St. Phila.

Cambria Station, Pa: Geo. W. Shoffner, Song, Card & Job Printer, [nd. circa 1863-65], broadsheet circular, measuring 4 ½ x 7 inches, some creasing amd spotting, else very good. Songsheet in “negro dialect” celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation. Apparently unrecorded, there is no imprint of this publisher located on OCLC.                 $ 150.00

21. (African Americans) Extracts from Remarks on Dr. Channing’s Slavery, with Comments, by an Abolitionist.

Boston: Published by D. K. Hitchcock, 1836, octavo, 55 page pamphlet, original printed wrappers, some light dust soiling to wrappers, else a very good clean copy. Afro-Americana 3576; American Imprints 37366 

                                                                                                                $ 125.00   

22. (African Americans) Foster, Stephen Symonds, The Brotherhood of Thieves, or A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy.

New London: Published by William Bolles, 1843, 16mo, 68 pp., original printed wrappers, removed from bound volume, wrappers considerably darkened, else a very good copy. A virulent attack on the American clergy for their support of slavery. The author, in 1842 had chided the Church for its stand on slavery at a Nantucket Convention, and been greeted with a shower of brickbats and rotten eggs. The contents include a letter from the author to Nathaniel Barny and Peter Macy of Nantucket in defence of language used in denouncing the Southern clergy on their attitude toward slavery. The rear wrapper carries the “Tee-Total Anti-Slavery Pledge.” Dumond, p. 53; Sabin 25263; this edition not in American Imprints; this edition not in Afro-Americana.                                                                                           $ 250.00

23. (African Americans) Foster, Stephen Symonds, The Brotherhood of Thieves; or, A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy: A Letter to Nathaniel Barney, of Nantucket.

Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1844, 12mo, 72 page pamphlet, original printed wrappers, removed from bound volume, ex-library, old oval hand-stamps, upper right corner of rear wrapper, torn away affecting some text, scattered foxing to text, else very good. Later edition of the above item. Afro-Americana 3769; American Imprints 44-2412  $ 150.00

24. (African Americans) [Fourth Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn.] The Unanimous Remonstrance of the Fourth Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn., Against the Policy of the American Tract Society on the Subject of Slavery.

Hartford: Foundry of Silas Andrus & Son, 1855, first edition, 12mo, 34 page pamphlet, sewn, self wraps, some light dust soiling, else a very good copy. This edition not in Afro-Americana                         $ 125.00

25. (African Americans) Free and Friendly Remarks, on a Speech Lately Delivered to the Senate of the United States, by Henry Clay, of Kentucky, on the Subject of the Abolition of North American Slavery.

New York: Mahlon Day & Co., 1839, first edition, octavo, 24 page pamphlet, original printed wrappers, some light dust soiling, else a very good copy. American Imprints 55725; Sabin 81981; not in Afro-Americana                                                                                              $ 150.00