Mar 27, 2014 - Sale 2342

Sale 2342 - Lot 100

Price Realized: $ 594
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 800
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) NARRATIVE GALLAUDET, THOMAS H. A Statement with Regard to The Moorish Prince Abduhl Rahhahman. 8 pages, 8vo, removed; a few spots through the text; fore-edge slightly darkened. New York: Fanshaw, 1828

Additional Details

first edition of a rare and highly unusual account. Abuhl Rahhahman, or Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, was born in 1767, to the ruler of Timbuktu, in today's Mali. At the age of 26, the prince was captured in an ambush and sold into slavery, eventually winding up in Nachez, Mississippi as a field hand. A New Yorker by the name of Andrew Marshalk met him and attempted to secure his freedom. He persuaded Ibrahim to write a letter in Arabic to be sent (mistakenly!) to the Sultan of Morocco. Ibrahim, had simply written a few lines from the Koran, but the Sultan of Morocco realized what had happened and was moved to aid the Moslem prince. Meanwhile the American government found itself in a potentially embarrassing position. Henry Clay, Secretary of State, urged President Adams to aid in the repatriation of the Prince, who by now was married with 13 children. Thomas Gallaudet, founder of the School for the Deaf, wrote the present pamphlet to raise funds to Ibrahim and his family's return.