Feb 26, 2009 - Sale 2171

Sale 2171 - Lot 37

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,600
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) CHILD, LYDIA MARIA. An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans. Portrait frontispiece. 232 pages. 12mo, original cloth with printed spine label; binding slightly cocked; some loss of cloth to the spine extremities; 19th century bookplate of the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dark shadow between first page of text and verso of Preface, with front hinge partially started there. Boston, 1833

Additional Details

first edition of one of the earliest and most important pieces of American abolitionist literature. Child''s "Appeal" caused a great commotion when it appeared in 1833. Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), who was best known as a popular novelist, came out in favor of not only abolishing the institution of slavery, but admitting Africans to American society on an equal footing. It is said that one prominent Boston politician hurled the book out his window. People she knew avoided her on the street, and the sale of her once popular books plummeted. But Lydia Maria Child remained resolute and campaigned on behalf of human rights all her life.