Dec 01, 2011 - Sale 2263

Sale 2263 - Lot 21

Price Realized: $ 1,920
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
THE FIRST PUBLISHED WORK BY AN AMERICAN INDIAN (AMERICAN INDIANS.) Occom, Samson. A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian, who was Executed at New Haven. 8vo, unbound gatherings with stitch holes; moderate soiling, lacking bottom corner of final leaf with loss of a few words; uncut; early owner's signature on title page. New London, CT: Timothy Green, [1772]

Additional Details

first edition. The first published work by an American Indian. Occom was a Mohegan who studied under Eleazer Wheelock and was ordained by the Presbyterian Church. He later preached among the Montauks of Long Island. This funeral sermon appeared in numerous editions during Occom's lifetime, but this first edition (with the biography of Paul on the last page) is not frequently seen. Evans 12493; Littlefield, Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772-1924; McDade 730; Sabin 56635.