(AFRICAN AMERICAN) WHEATLEY, PHILLIS

(AFRICAN AMERICAN) WHEATLEY, PHILLIS (image 1/1)
Pricing & History
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  • Source Hindman
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. London: A. Bell, Bookseller, Aldgate; and Sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, 1773 12mo. First Edition. [i-viii], [9]-124, [4] pp. Bound in contemporary tan sheepskin boards, rebacked and the spine executed with five raised bands, gilt rules, and a gilt-stamped red morocco label. Illustrated with an exquisite facsimile of the original portrait frontispiece, printed on matching contemporary laid paper. The corners of the boards are rounded and moderatly worn; the edges of the first and last couple of leaves are a little toned. Around 1760 (1761 according to her master's note), Phillis Wheatley, then only seven years old, was captured in Senegal and sold as a slave to John and Susannah Wheatley of Boston. The Wheatley's saw to it that Phillis received a good education. At the age of 13, her command of the English language was strong enough to publish her first poem. Skeptical that readers would believe the poetry to be that of a young slave girl, she appeared before a group of "the most respectable Characters in Boston" -- including John Hancock and James Pitts -- all of whom signed their names in official attestation that Wheatley truly did write the poems. Even so, no local publisher would assume the task, so Phillis and her master's son traveled to London and procured read more
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