(LITERATURE) Susan Paul Memoir of James Jackson the Attentiv

Sale 2562 - Lot 261

Price Realized: $ 8,750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500

(LITERATURE.) Susan Paul. Memoir of James Jackson, the Attentive and Obedient Scholar, who Died in Boston . . . Aged Six Years. 88 pages. 12mo, contemporary 1/4 calf with original printed spine label, minor wear; minor foxing, final leaf torn at fore-edge without loss of text, otherwise minimal wear. Boston: James Loring, 1835

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The first biography written by a Black woman. Susan Paul (1809-1841) came from an activist family. Her father, Thomas Paul was a Baptist minister and an active member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. She became a teacher and organized the Juvenile Choir of Boston composed of her students, ages 3 to 10, and was moved by the death of one of these little children to write a memoir of his short life. She recounts the "incidents in the life of a little colored boy" for a juvenile audience, addressing issues of color and prejudice through stories and parables. Afro-Americana Supplement 1660; not in Blockson. 7 in OCLC, and only one other example traced at auction, a worn example which appeared at a Swann sale, 27 March 2014, lot 109. With--the modern scholarly edition of the Memoir edited by Lois Brown, Harvard University Press, 2000.

Helpful tip for book scouts: another unrelated book was published in Boston in 1835 titled "A Memoir of James Jackson, Jr., M.D., with Extracts from His Letters." That one is not worth quite as much.