Description
First edition of The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown, the American abolitionist leader, published posthumously in 1861.
Octavo, xiv, 453pp. Original brown cloth, title in gilt on spine. Frontispiece with original albumen portrait and facsimile inscription below. Brown endpapers, binder’s label on rear pastedown endpaper, library bookplate affixed to front pastedown endpaper. Library stamp on title page, number notation near top edge of title page. Slight lean to text block, free of any notable foxing or wear. Solid text block. A very good example of this scarce work, in the publisher’s original cloth binding. Not found in Sabin or Howes.
John Brown (1800-1859) was an American abolitionist leader, who was executed for his incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry. He was a strong advocate of the need for violence to end the American institution of slavery, since decades of peaceful opposition had failed. Brown was tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia and became the first person executed for treason in the United States. His legacy is honored by some as a heroic martyr, while others have condemned his use of violence. The editor of this work, Richard D. Webb, was an Irish publisher and noted abolitionist, assisting in the publication of this book and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
