My Bondage and My Freedom. (Scarce First Edition) With an introduction by Dr. James MCune Smith.Tissue-guarded frontispiece engraving of Frederick Douglass and two other engraved plates with tissue guards

Douglass, Frederick

Published by Miller, Orton, & Mulligan, New York & Auburn, 1855

Solidly bound in the publisher's dark brown cloth decorated with subtle blind stamping and rectangular rules along the edges on the front and rear boards. With title, author, and gold maple leaf, all in readable gilt on the spine. With a blind-stamped decorated oval cameo on the front and rear boards. The binding is heavily chipped and worn along the edges, especially at the corners and at top and bottom of the spine ends, showing some of the paper boards. This copy is very good plus with tight hinges. Occasional light foxing to the high quality white paper. Light foxing to the margins of the three engravings. With 4 pages of the publisher's adds at the end of the book. A handsome copy of this scarce volume. Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 1817 or 1818[a] February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory[4] and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to enslavers' arguments that enslaved people lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.[5] Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been enslaved. It was in response to this disbelief that Douglass wrote his first autobiography.[6] Douglass wrote three autobiographies, describing his experiences as an enslaved person in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), which became a bestseller and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). Following the Civil War, Douglass was an active campaigner for the rights of freed slaves and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, the book covers his life up to those dates. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and he held several public offices. Without his knowledge or consent, Douglass became the first African American nominated for vice president of the United States, as the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket.[7] Douglass believed in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, as well as in the liberal values of the U.S. Constitution.[8] When radical abolitionists, under the motto "No Union with Slaveholders", criticized Douglass's willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong." (Wikipedia) First edition with matching dates of 1855 on the title and copyright pages; no subsequent printings listed. Seller Inventory # 1348

Bibliographic Details

Title: My Bondage and My Freedom. (Scarce First ...
Publisher: Miller, Orton, & Mulligan, New York & Auburn
Publication Date: 1855
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition.