FORDHAM MARY WESTON Magnolia Leaves with Introductory by

Sale 2377 - Lot 369

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Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500

FORDHAM, MARY WESTON. Magnolia Leaves . . . with Introductory by Booker T. Washington. Frontispiece photograph of the author's home. 104 pages. Small 8vo, original pictorial tan covers, spine in gilt, covers blocked in green, all edges tinted red; some bleed from the red to the rear inner board edge, tiny smudge on front cover, otherwise a fine copy of an attractive and well-made book. Charleston, S.C.: Evens and Cogswell, 1897

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rare first edition of the poet's only published book. Mary Weston, later Fordham (1844-1905), poet and educator, was born to free parents in Charleston, S.C. Her family was well off and she received a thorough education from tutors. During the Civil War, she ran a semi-clandestine school for black children; something for which she was nearly arrested at least twice. She continued teaching well after the war for the American Missionary Association. She married James H. Fordham in 1868, a store clerk and later policeman, with whom she had four children. This slender volume contains 66 poems, most of which eulogize members of the families of her circle. One of her pieces, an epic poem titled Uranne, shows a familiarity and proficiency with the classics as well as the romantic poets like Byron, Keats et al. For more see African American National Biography, Volume 3, pages 320-321; Notable Black Women, Book II. Porter, page 37; not seen by French Fabre and Singh; Blockson Collection, 5803