(SLAVERY and ABOLITION) Printers Block depicting a runaway s

Sale 1961 - Lot 54

Price Realized: $ 1,265

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

WOOD PRINTER'S BLOCK DEPICTING A RUNAWAY SLAVE (SLAVERY and ABOLITION.) Printer's Block depicting a runaway slave with his belongings carried on a stick over his shoulder, 3 1/2x2 1/2 inches. Np, circa 1830-50

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A famous, if not infamous image, used universally by typesetters at newspapers throughout the slaveholding states. It shows a runaway slave with one foot on the ground and the other raised behind him, giving the impression of flight. Behind him a bush leans towards him, adding to the sense of forward motion. This image was not only employed in ads for runaways (in smaller format), it was also used as the cover engraving for the Anti-Slavery Record, Volume III, Number VII, for July 1837.