Feb 26, 2009 - Sale 2171

Sale 2171 - Lot 47

Price Realized: $ 510
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
A LANDMARK CASE (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) HAMLET, JAMES. The Fugitive Slave Bill: its History and Unconstitutionality; with an Account of the Seizure and Enslavement of James Hamlet and his Subsequent Restoration to Liberty (cover title). 36 pages. 12mo, original self-wrappers, sewn; outer leaves slightly foxed and toned. New York: American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1850

Additional Details

first edition. Hamlet was the first slave arrested and remanded under the Fugitive Slave Act of 18 September, 1850, seized just eight days after its passage. Finkelman, (Slavery in the Courtroom), pages 85-86 cites this pamphlet as the only record of the proceedings; there were no published reports of hearings before the fugitive slave commissioners. Through the sale of this pamphlet and the fund-raising efforts of the Anti-Slavery Society, $800 was raised to buy Hamlet''s freedom. He was officially freed on October 5th, 1850. Not in the Blockson Collection; Afro-Americana, 269