• 26 • RARE FIRST EDITION OF AUTOGRAPHS FOR FREEDOM, 1853, FEATURING THE FIRST APPEARANCE IN BOOK FORM OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS’ ONLY WORK OF FICTION, THE HEROIC SLAVE 26(DOUGLASS, Frederick) (GRIFFITHS, Julia). Autographs for Freedom. Boston / Cleveland / London, 1853. Small octavo (5 by 7-3/4 inches), original brown cloth. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $6000 First edition of a powerful volume of nearly 40 works by leading abolitionists, together in print for the first time, coedited by Frederick Douglass and Julia Griffiths, containing the first publication in book form of Douglass’ novella, The Heroic Slave, his only work of fiction, invoking the defining leadership of fugitive slave Madison Washington in the 1841 successful slave rebellion on the Creole, a core event in the history of the “revolutionary Black Atlantic.” The 1841 slave revolt on the Creole was “one of the most successful slave revolts” in American history: renowned “for the impact it had on the North-South sectional conflict in Congress, interpretations of the legal standing of slaver on the high seas, and American-British diplomacy” (Harrold in Journal of African American History). Douglass often spoke of Washington and the Creole in speeches throughout the 1840s, where he “kept its memory alive as a historical precedent for slave rebellion.’” In 1853 he sat at his desk to write Heroic Slave—his only work of fiction—a novella that reflects “his personal state of mind, his evolving ideas on violence, and the national crisis he sought to influence... The turn to fiction to expose the full danger of the fugitivecrisis was also a logical progression in his evolution as a man of words.” It was prompted by his vow to write an original piece for Autographs for Freedom, co-edited with British abolitionist Julia Griffiths: “an extremely important friend and coworker.” With Heroic Slave, appearing here in book form for the first time, he “gave a profound voice” to the rebel slave (Blight, 249-50). Also included are works by black abolitionists such as James Monroe Whitfield, James M’Cune Smith, and William Gustavus Allen, along with those by white abolitionists such as William Seward, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher, Lewis Tappan, Charles Sumner and Gerrit Smith. Heroic Slave earlier appeared in Douglass’ newspaper in March 1853 (Blight, 248). Blockson 9204. Small owner inkstamp. Interior generally fresh with foxing, mild rubbing with trace of soiling to cloth. An extremely good copy, exceptional in original unrestored cloth.
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