Mar 27, 2014 - Sale 2342

Sale 2342 - Lot 45

Price Realized: $ 6,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 7,500 - $ 10,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) [DOUGLASS, FREDERICK]. HUTCHINSON, JESSE. The Fugitive's Song. Words Composed and respectfully dedicated in token of confident esteem to Frederick Douglass, a Graduate of the "Peculiar Institution" for his fearless Advocacy, Signal Ability and Wonderful Success in behalf of Hi Brothers in Bonds . . . Engraved cover, depicting Douglass as a fugitive slave, plus 5 pages of lithographed music with extensive extra verses on the last page. Some light discoloration to the edges, still an exceptional copy. Boston: Henry Prentiss, 1845
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Written by noted singer/composer Jesse Hutchinson. The Hutchinson Family Singers as they were originally called, toured the country composing and performing anti-slavery songs. In this regard they may well have been unique. In the highly polarized atmosphere of the decades leading to secession and war, hecklers could become violent. When Frederick Douglass was forced to flee the country in 1845, he went to England. There, the Hutchinsons traveled with him, staying for nearly a year. This song was probably written just before Douglass's departure. Other songs such as "Get Off the Track, and "The Slave's Appeal" addressed the slavery issue head on. The group, known colloquially as the 'Tribe of Jesse' was still quite popular by the onset of the Civil War, though by then they had broken into two distinct groups. exceedingly scarce. oclc locates only one copy at the library company of philadelphia. Not in LCP/HSP Afro-Americana.