Black Americana and Abolition – 6 – Bauman Rare Books - July 2022 “Every Negro Who Shall Well And Faithfully Serve As A Soldier… Shall Be Emancipated” 6. BAIRD, Henry Carey. General Washington and General Jackson, on Negro Soldiers. Philadelphia, 1863. Octavo, later blue paper wrappers; pp. 8. $2000. First edition of General Washington and General Jackson on Negro Soldiers, issued at the height of the Civil War, assembling works from the Revolution and War of 1812 on military and congressional works that proposed turning to free and enslaved Black men for soldiers in America’s wars with Britain. This work compiles excerpts about Black soldiers who served in the American Revolution and War of 1812. Edited by Henry Carey Baird, it cites congressional journals, memoirs, histories and military documents..” Issued the same year as copies also printed in Philadelphia; no priority determined. Text fresh with a bit of soiling. Extremely good. “I Told Him To Follow Me And He Jumped Into The Boat Quick” 7. BEARSE, Austin. Reminiscences of Fugitive-Slave Law Days in Boston. Boston, 1880. Octavo, original printed tan paper wrappers. $1650. First edition of the abolitionist’s account of his work for the Boston Vigilance Committee in fighting the Fugitive Slave Law, documenting his “daring rescues of captured fugitives with his sleek 36-foot sloop, the Moby Dick,” with frontispiece of his ship, rare in original wrappers. “In November 1851, Melville’s literary leviathan first breached into view. Six months later the schooner, Moby Dick, Captain Austin Bearse, master… began its service for the Committee of Vigilance as a major link in the Underground Railroad from slavery to freedom…. The ostensible business of the Cape Cod sea-captain was to take out parties of fishing or sailing trips; actually he was at the beck and call of the Committee” (Kaplan, 173). Contemporary owner signature on front wrapper. Interior very fresh, wrappers with light edge-wear, small gutter-edge pinholes. A near-fine copy.
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