(SLAVERY ABOLITION) New York Court of Appeals Report of the

Sale 2631 - Lot 37

Price Realized: $ 3,500

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

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) New York Court of Appeals. Report of the Lemmon Slave Case. 146 pages. 8vo, original printed wrappers, worn, front wrapper detached with crude tape repair in margin; only minor wear and toning to contents. New York: W.H. Tinson, 1860

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Arguments and judges' opinions from an important legal case. In 1852, the Lemmon family took a ship from Virginia to New York along with eight enslaved people, planning to embark immediately on another ship for New Orleans. With slavery already abolished in New York by that point, the slaves were soon detected and freed, resulting in a long string of appeals through the New York courts. The case would likely have been decided by the Supreme Court, but the secession of Virginia made that unnecessary. Future president Chester A. Arthur is named as attorney for the People of New York on page 15 of this report.

"The fullest legal examination of slave transit and comity before the Civil War. . . . One of the most extreme examples of hostility to slavery in Northern courts . . . pushed the nation one step closer to Civil War"--Paul Finkelman, Slavery in the Courtroom, pages 56-57 (listing this as the second of three editions). Afro-Americana 7104 (this edition); Sabin 40003 (1860 Greeley first edition); Work, page 346 (1860 Greeley first edition). Only one of any edition traced at auction since 1982 (Swann sale, 27 February 2003, lot 27).