[AFRICAN AMERICANA]. BROWN, William Wells (1814-1884). My Southern Home: or , the South and Its People. Boston: A. G. Brown & Co., 1880. 8vo. Frontispiece portrait and several intertexual illustrations. 253, [1, blank], [2, ads] pp. Publisher's full burgundy cloth, boards decoratively ruled and paneled in blind, front board and spine lettered in gilt. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S FINAL BOOK - A MEMOIR OF HIS EARLY LIFE.
Condition
Binding heavily worn, soiled, spine toned, hinges cracking, text toned and brittle, a few signatures loose, several gutters cracking. Fair. Sold as-is.
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Bookplate of Dr. Edwin H. Brigham on the fp., with the (presumed later) ownership signature of Chas. E. Chapman, 1888 on the bookplate. Brown was a true renaissance man; a physician, a playwright, an author, an a prominent abolitionist. He escaped from slavery at age 19 from Kentucky, settling in Ohio (eventually moving to New York). He is credited with publishing the first novel (Clotel) and the first play (Experience...) by an African-American.