?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE (RELIGION.) 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. 111 pages. Tall 8vo, original gilt and blind-stamped black cloth; 3 inch portion of the spine lacking; unobtrusive tide-mark throughout the text, several early presentations on the front free end-paper. Philadelphia, 1857
first edition, exceedingly scarce. William T. Catto (1810-1871) African-American minister, lecturer, writer and ardent abolitionist, was part of Philadelphia's powerful free black community. Catto's Discourse includes a history of the Church as well as a biography of its founder, Reverend John Gloucester, and an historical Appendix of all of Philadelphia's black churches at the end. William Catto and other black ministers convinced the Quaker administration of the noted Vaux Primary School to focus on classical subjects such as Greek, Latin and mathematics, as opposed to the usual trade and agricultural subjects. The result was a generation of well-educated African-Americans, which included Catto's son Octavius Valentine (1839-1871), educator, civil rights activist and founder of Philadelphia's black Union League. Octavius, an ardent defender of the principles of Lincoln, was shot to death by a white fanatic on October 10, 1871, while on his way to a League meeting. His father, William, died within days from what was said to be a broken heart. Only one copy has been at auction in the last 36 years.
