"THE ONE UNQUESTIONABLY AUTHENTIC AMERICAN SAINT": FIRST EDITION OF ANTHONY BENEZET'S FIRST PUBLISHED ANTISLAVERY WORK, CAUTION AND ADVICE, CONCERNING THE BUYING AND KEEPING OF SLAVES, 1754

(WOOLMAN, John) BENEZET, Anthony). An Epistle… Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves. Philadelphia, 1754.

First edition, issued anonymously, of Benezet's extremely rare "first treatise against the slave trade." A revolutionary work by "the foremost antislavery fighter of the 18th century… one of the first white intellectuals to forcefully make the argument that Africans were indeed human beings." One of the earliest abolitionist works published in America, in contemporary wrappers, from the library of James Moon, Bucks County Quaker abolitionist, with his ownership signatures. $28,500.

"FREEDOM IS THE NATURAL RIGHT OF ALL MEN"

(SLAVERY). Constitution of the Abolition Society. No place, early 19th century.

Rare generic template of a broadside for an abolition society constitution, from the early days of their proliferation, with the original printer's registration nicks. $3500.

"LEGISLATORS OF AMERICA, YOU ARE THE REAL UPHOLDERS OF SLAVERY… YOU IMMORTALIZE INJUSTICE"

SMITH, E[lihu].H[ubbard]. Discourse Delivered April 11, 1798… Promoting the Manumission of Slaves. New-York, 1798.

First edition of Smith's scathing attack on American slavery, declaring it a betrayal as "thousands of your fellow-beings, children of the same father and inheritors of the same destiny… writhe under the lash of cruelty," an exceptional 18th-century abolitionist work published barely ten years after ratification of the Constitution, exceedingly rare uncut in original wrappers. $3500.

"THE ACCUMULATION OF HUMAN AGONY… THE CRUELTIES AND HORRORS OF THE PASSAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC"

(SLAVERY) BUXTON, Thomas Fowell. African Slave Trade. London, 1839.

First edition of British abolitionist Buxton's powerful call to abolish the slave trade by following the lead of William Wilberforce in calling for treaties and commerce between Britain and Africa, inscribed in a secretarial hand above the title page to the daughter of abolitionist Zachary Macaulay, "Miss F. Macaulay. From the Author," and sister of noted historian Thomas Macaulay, with the owner signature of Fanny Macaulay on the initial blank. $3200.

“A LAVISH VOLUME… TIMED TO CELEBRATE THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE”

(SLAVERY—ABOLITION) MONTGOMERY, James, GRAHAME, James and BENGER, E[lizabeth]. Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade. London, 1809 [i.e. 1810].

First edition of famed publisher and artist Bowyer’s richly illustrated volume featuring eloquent anti-slavery poems by Montgomery, Grahame and Benger, a major antislavery work issued shortly after Britain’s abolition of the slave trade, with engraved portraits of abolitionists Sharpe, Clarkson and Wilberforce, engraved allegorical title page and nine full-page engravings after paintings by artist Sir Robert Smirke, a handsome wide-margined copy in contemporary boards. $2900.

"THE WOMAN IS THE GIVER, THE WORLD FORCE OF ENERGY… YOU HAVE MADE ME UNABLE TO AVOID MOTHERHOOD, EVEN IF I WANTED TO"

EYLES, Margaret Leonora. Margaret Protests. London, 1919.

First edition of this early feminist novel, in rare original dust jacket. $2800.

"THE VAST AMOUNT OF HUMAN SUFFERING AND THE WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE"

(SLAVERY) BUXTON, Thomas Fowell. African Slave Trade and its Remedy. London, 1840.

First expanded and revised edition of British abolitionist Buxton's powerful call for an end to the slave trade, the first to include his extensive and influential Remedy, two major works that followed the lead of Wilberforce in calling for treaties and commerce to end the slave trade, and outlined a way to "secure the regeneration of Africa through agricultural development," with large folding map, a handsome copy in original cloth. $2800.

"THE ACCUMULATION OF HUMAN AGONY… THE CRUELTIES AND HORRORS OF THE PASSAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC"

(SLAVERY) BUXTON, Thomas Fowell. African Slave Trade. London, 1839.

First edition of British abolitionist Buxton's powerful call for an end to the slave trade by following the lead of William Wilberforce in calling for treaties and commerce to end the traffic in slavery, a handsome copy in contemporary calf. $2400.

"A CLASSIC IN EMANCIPATIONIST LITERATURE"

CLARKSON, T[homas], Esq. Thoughts on… Slaves in the British Colonies. London, 1823.

First edition of Clarkson's powerful work in the fight to end slavery, arguing "if you put into one scale the gold and jewels of the Planters, you are bound to put into the other the liberty of 800,000 of the African race; for every man's liberty is his own property." $2200.

"THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE WAS INDISPENSABLY REQUIRED… NOT ONLY BY RELIGION AND MORALITY, BUT BY EVERY PRINCIPLE OF SOUND POLICY"

(SLAVERY) (HOUSE OF COMMONS). The Debate on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade. London, 1792.

Second and first edition, respectively, of these two important government publications regarding Britain's late 18th-century debate over abolishing the slave trade. $2200.

"YOU ARE IN A FREE STATE, AND HAVE ONLY TO GO ASHORE TO BE FREE"

(SLAVERY) WILLIAMSON, Passmore. Case of Passmore Williamson. Philadelphia, 1856.

First edition of "the most complete record available" of the controversial Pennsylvania case on fugitive slaves, a core work establishing a precedent "in federal and state courts… and important cause célèbre for the antislavery movement," crucial in asserting a clear path for the following year's Dred Scott decision and provoking a "legal crisis… that led to the Civil War." $2200.

FIRST EDITION OF REPORT OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH NATIONAL ANTI-SLAVERY FESTIVAL, 1858

(SLAVERY). Report of the Twenty-Fourth Anti-Slavery Festival. Boston, 1858.

First edition of this report on a major 1858 anti-slavery "fair," which raised $3800 for abolitionist causes. $2200.

“A LAVISH VOLUME… TIMED TO CELEBRATE THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE”

(SLAVERY—ABOLITION) MONTGOMERY, James, GRAHAME, James and BENGER, E[lizabeth]. Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade. London, 1809 [i.e. 1810].

Second edition, issued one year after the first, of famed publisher and artist Bowyer’s richly illustrated volume featuring eloquent anti-slavery poems by Montgomery, Grahame and Benger, a major antislavery work issued shortly after Britain’s abolition of the slave trade, with engraved portraits of abolitionists Sharpe, Clarkson and Wilberforce, engraved allegorical title page and nine full-page engravings after paintings by artist Sir Robert Smirke. A handsome wide-margined copy in contemporary calf covers. $2000.

"IT IS NOT IN THE POWER OF HUMAN LAW TO MAKE MEN ENTIRELY FORGET THAT THE SLAVE IS A MAN"

(SLAVERY) (AMERICAN & FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY) (ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER). Five Anti-Slavery Pamphlets. New York, 1835-53.

Sammelband of antebellum anti-slavery pamphlets and periodicals, including two issues of the Anti-Slavery Examiner; a first edition of the 1853 annual report of the American & Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, which includes Frederick Douglass' powerful address arguing against the Liberia plan; a first edition of the proceedings of the 1835 New York Anti-Slavery Convention; and a 1836 first edition of the Third Annual Report of the Anti-Slavery Society. $1900.

"A VIOLENT END TO SLAVERY… A RECKONING FOR DEEP AND DAMNING WRONGS"

SMITH, Gerrit. Speeches of Gerrit Smith. Washington, D.C. 1854.

First edition of nine major 1854 speeches by radical abolitionist Smith, together in print for the first time, featuring elemental works such as "No Slavery in Nebraska," defying Stephen Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska bill and denouncing "the federal government as a 'bastard democracy,'" very elusive in fragile original wrappers. $1850.

"A VIOLENT END TO SLAVERY… A RECKONING FOR DEEP AND DAMNING WRONGS"

SMITH, Gerrit. Speeches of Gerrit Smith. Washington, D.C. 1854.

First edition of nine major 1854 speeches by radical abolitionist Smith, together in print for the first time, featuring elemental works such as "No Slavery in Nebraska," defying Stephen Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska bill and denouncing "the federal government as a 'bastard democracy,'" very elusive in fragile original wrappers. $1850.

"VERY PROBABLY AN END WILL SOON BE PUT TO THE PRACTICE OF TRANSPORTING SLAVES FROM AFRICA TO THE NEW WORLD"

(SLAVERY). The Interference of the British Legislature. London, 1816.

First edition of this defense of the West Indian slave trade, arguing against emancipation. $1800.

WILLIAM JAY'S 1839 VIEW OF THE ACTION…, WORK "ON WHICH ANTISLAVERY POLITICIANS AND LAWYERS COULD MAKE THEIR STAND"

JAY, William. View of the Action… in Behalf of Slavery. New-York, 1839.

First edition of the highly influential work by William Jay, son of Founding Father John Jay, documenting the "grim" legacy of the U.S. Constitution's "guilty compromise"—with Frederick Douglass honoring Jay at his death for his dedication to "the great cause of universal freedom… a tower of strength and his pen a two-edged, sword"—especially scarce in original cloth. $1600.

"TO MAKE THIS WHOLE LAND THE SLAVEHOLDER'S HUNTING GROUND"

(SLAVERY) SMITH, Gerrit. Substance of the Speech Made… in the Capitol. Albany, 1850.

First edition of the bold abolitionist's Speech proclaiming the Constitution "does not allow the three million of our colored countrymen to be held in slavery," a close friend of Frederick Douglass, who "openly embraced Smith's version of an antislavery interpretation of the Constitution," delivered the same decade as John Brown's Harpers Ferry raid, substantially financed by Smith. $1500.

"A COMMANDING PRESENCE IN THE HISTORY OF THE NATION'S STRUGGLES TO OVERCOME RACIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE"

(PHILLIPS, Wendell). Can Abolitionists Vote. New York, 1845.

First edition of the provocative abolitionist's fierce attack on the Constitution—proclaiming it "an irredeemably proslavery document"—declaring its legacy implicates "all Americans in the crimes of slaveholding," and caused the American flag to be weighed "heavy with blood." $1500.

"THE FIRST SUBSTANTIAL LEGAL TREATISE ON AMERICAN SLAVERY"

(SLAVERY) STROUD, George M. Sketch of the Laws Relating to Slavery. Philadelphia, 1827.

First edition of Judge Stroud's groundbreaking 1827 work documenting state slave laws and relevant Constitutional provisions, held as a key resource for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, a cornerstone volume “considered by many the best of the ante-bellum studies" on slavery, uncut in original boards. $1350.

A STATEMENT ON THE FEDERAL PROPERTY TAX AFFECTING SLAVE-HOLDING STATES, 1816, INCLUDING THE VALUATION OF SLAVES AS PROPERTY

(SLAVERY) DALLAS, Alexander James. Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury. Washington, 1816.

First edition of Dallas’ statement of property values on a state-by-state basis, offered pursuant to the 1813 Act that ruled slaves as directly taxable property. $1350.

"AT THIS MOMENT THE SWORD IS PERHAPS SUSPENDED BY A SINGLE HAIR, WHICH, AT ONE STROKE, MAY DISSEVER THE UNION!"

(CIVIL WAR) PHILLIPS, Stephen C. Address on the Annexation of Texas… Slavery. Boston, 1845.

First edition of the influential Massachusetts abolitionist's fiery 1845 Address calling on James Madison and asserting the annexation of Texas will make the U.S. "government the instrument of the Slave-holding states for the perpetuation of slavery." This provocative work calling, in effect, for secession—proclaiming that if the Union cannot be maintained "upon a practical basis of equal rights and common interest… it must cease to exist!," vey scarce in original unrestored wrappers. $1200.

"SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND THEREFORE UNLAWFUL"

(SLAVERY) GRANGER, Amos P. Speech of Hon. Amos P. Granger, of New York. Washington, 1856.

First edition of this powerful 1856 congressional speech arguing that slavery was unconstitutional, both from a rights perspective and in the sense that it literally did not exist in the Constitution. $350.