ALLEGEDLY " SIGNED " BY SOJOURNER TRUTH (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) TRUTH, SOJOURNER. Narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Bondswoman of Olden Time. Portrait frontispiece. 320 pages, errata slip inserted between the title-page and the Preface; early pencil note on the front free end-paper "Bought of Sojourner Truth in a Caboose car near Lansing, Mar. 5, '78"; another small note in the margin of the Preface "see page 308" regards a typo in the Preface. 8vo, original gilt-pictorial dark burgundy cloth; ink stain on the upper cover; with some very slight mottling toward the board edge, otherwise an exceptional copy. Boston: For the author, 1875
FIRST EDITION 'SIGNED' BY SOJOURNER TRUTH, WITH A SCRAWL, THE 'S' IN SOME WAYS SIMILAR TO THAT OF HER ONLY OTHER KNOWN 'SIGNATURE.' Sojourner Truth was illiterate. However, she did on at least one occasion attempt to sign her name. On April 23, 1880, Hattie Johnson, a young Battle Creek student asked her to sign her autograph book. The result was a rather strange approximation of an 'S' and an 'O,' followed by a series of scrawls. The present example was obtained by the original owner of the book who wrote on the front free end-paper 'Bought of Sojourner Truth in a Caboose car near Lansing, Mar. 5/78.' The 'Signature,' as she wrote it is on the following page. The provenance of this book is as follows: Obtained for his personal library by a Presbyterian minister from Michigan in 1878. In 1916, he and his family moved to Orlando, Florida where he helped found a church. In 1920, the grandfather of the present owner did some contracting work for the minister. But due to financial difficulties, the minister was unable to pay the bill. This book together with a number of others from his library, were given in lieu of payment. It has remained in the family's possession until now.
