Halloween 2020

F e a t u r e d I t e m s 5 Fine New Acquisitions H alloween 2020 Extraordinarily Rare: John Brown’s Own Copy Of Cooley’s 1839 Biography Of African American Reverend Lemuel Haynes, Boldly Signed By Him 3. (BROWN, John) COOLEY, Timothy Mather. Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A.M . New York, 1839. Octavo, original blind-stamped brown cloth, custom clamshell box. $28,000. Click for more info First edition of Timothy Mather Cooley’s important biography of Reverend Lemuel Haynes, who fought in the American Revolution as a Minuteman; penned one of the earliest attacks on slavery by an African American; is considered the “first black person to lead a white church”; and was a minister in Torrington, Connecticut, where John Brown was born and his parents were in Haynes’ congregation, an exceedingly rare association copy— John Brown’s personal copy, signed by him—in original cloth. Born to an African father and white mother, Haynes was abandoned in infancy and raised as an indentured servant to a white family. On his release, he “lent his own newly gained liberty to the defense of American freedom” when he became a Minuteman, joined the Continental army, and fought with Ethan Allen (Bay, 25). “In the army... Haynes penned Liberty Further Extended , an attack on the institution of slavery… [later] he was licensed to preach at the Middle Granville church, possibly becoming the first black person to lead a white church” (Finkelman, 154). He was then appointed to an all-white church in Torrington. “Race relations became the focusofHaynes’s republicanismandevangelicalCalvinismasheattackedslavery” (Saillant, LemuelHaynes ). This rare association first edition, signed by Brown, is also distinctive in that, at Torrington, where Brown was born, “among those in [Haynes’] congregation, were the parents of John Brown ” (Aseng, 99-100). Two decades after this signal work was published, Brown was executed for leading the attack on Harpers Ferry. Frontispiece portrait with facsimile inscription as issued, and introduction byWilliamB. Sprague. We have found no records of books signed by Brown being offered for sale. Text generally fresh with light scattered foxing, a few leaves detaching, cloth with rubbing and wear but fully intact. An exceedingly rare and important copy, possibly the only known book with the owner signature of John Brown.