Mar 27, 2014 - Sale 2342

Sale 2342 - Lot 367

Unsold
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
POSSIBLY UNIQUE COPY (MILITARY--REVOLUTIONARY WAR.) ATTUCKS, CRISPUS. STEPHENSON, ISAIAH H. Stephenson's Oration on Attucks. Printed broadside. Folio (12-7/8x8-1/2 inches); creases where folded, paper lightly and evenly toned. [Harpers Ferry, WV], 1893

Additional Details

a rare broadside printing of the valedictory address delivered by Isaiah Stephenson at the commencement exercises at Storer College in 1893. Storer was one of the oldest black colleges in the U.S., founded in 1869 by the Freedmen's Bureau. Stephenson's "Oration" tells the story of Attucks' life as a slave, his escape and how he came to be in Boston that day in 1770. We could find nothing more about Isaiah Stephenson other than the fact that he was living in Arlington, Virginia at the time this address was delivered and later became an attorney, settling in Anderson, Indiana. Given the fact that there were only 200 students at Storer at the time of this printing, we can assume that no more than 200 copies of this broadside were printed--and probably at the college on a hand press. No copies of this Oration could be located in OCLC or any other reference. Storer closed its doors in 1955, and its holdings are presently stored at the University of West Virginia.