Black Americana and Abolition – 13 – Bauman Rare Books - July 2022 Pioneering First Edition Of WilliamWells Brown’s American Fugitive In Europe, 1855 18. BROWN, William Wells. The American Fugitive in Europe. Sketches of Places and People Abroad. Boston / Cleveland / New York, 1855. Octavo, original brown cloth. $5800. First edition of Brown’s substantially revised and expanded Three Years in Europe (1853), newly titled as American Fugitive in Europe with 12 new chapters, a core work in Brown’s “substantial legacy,” with striking engraved frontispiece portrait, in original cloth. Brown “remains an enduring figure in African American history and literature for his writing, his activism and his remarkable story of survival and triumph over slavery, illiteracy and systematic racism.” After escaping in 1834, Brown ultimately joined Frederick Douglass in the abolitionist cause, leading to publication of Brown’s autobiographical Narrative (1847). Forced into exile in Europe with passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Brown remained abroad until 1854 when he “was persuaded to let friends buy his freedom” (African American Lives, 119-120). His years abroad had produced Three Years in Europe (1852), “one of his most significant” works, which he expanded for this first edition of his pioneering American Fugitive in Europe that features a “dozen new chapters” (Greenspan, 313, 327). Contemporary owner inscription. Interior generally fresh with trace of soiling, light foxing mainly to early leaves, trace of edge-wear, scant bit of toning to rear board of bright gilt-stamped unrestored cloth. A very scarce near-fine copy. First Edition Of Black Historian WilliamWells Brown’s Negro In The American Rebellion, Very Scarce In Original Cloth 19. BROWN, William Wells. The Negro in the American Rebellion. His Heroism and his Fidelity. Boston, 1867. Octavo, original gilt-stamped green cloth. $3800. First edition of Brown’s seminal Civil War history of African Americans, a handsome copy in original cloth. Born enslaved, Wells Brown became “the most pioneering and accomplished African American writer and cultural impresario of the 19th century.” His Negro in the American Rebellion broke ground as “the first history of African American military service in the Civil War” (Greenspan). Text very fresh, front free endpaper corner clipped, expert repairs to inner hinges, with bright gilt-stamped original cloth. A very desirable near-fine copy.
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