Narrative of Sojourner Truth; A Bondswoman of Olden Time, Emancipated by the New York Legislature in the Early Part of the Present Century; with a History of Her Labors and Correspondence, Drawn From Her "Book of Life.

Boston: Published for the Author, 1875. First Revised Edition. First Printing. Octavo (19.75cm); dark blue-green cloth, with titling and portrait of the author stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; xii,[13]-324pp, with an engraved tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of the author, and the errata slip tipped onto the preface at gutter. Contemporary ink ownership inscription to front pastedown ("L.G. Ransom's Book" - possibly Limon G. Ransom, a Methodist churchman from Iowa), with a holograph correction and marginal annotation on the Preface page in an editorial hand. Light wear to spine ends and corner tips, a tiny rubbed spot to right edge of rear cover, hint of sunning to spine, with faint creases to a handful of page corners, subtle toning to the edges of the frontispiece, and a brief (early) holograph note in pencil on p.324; hinges sound, with the text notably fresh and without foxing; Near Fine. "Her given name was Isabella. Standing six feet tall with a deep, resonant voice, this unlettered former Ulster County, New York, slave assumed the name 'Sojourner' because, she said, 'I was to travel up and down the land showin' the people their sins an' bein a sign unto them.' She electrified her audiences and irritated those who did not agree with her. Alone and in company with her friend Frederick Douglass and other leading abolitionists, always in the plainest of clothes, she wandered the land speaking with an orator's eloquence and a victim's rage against slavery and for women's rights" (Blockson 29, One Hundred and One Influential Books). In the hopes of imitating the success of Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845), she began dictating her own story to her friend Olive Gilbert, who helped shape it into Narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Northern Slave (1850). Proceeds from sales of the book and cartes-de-visite enabled her to purchase a home in Florence, Massachusetts. A second edition was published in 1853, though the most significant changes to the text would appear in this 1875 edition, with significant edits to the text, and considerably expanded to include her "Book of Life," speeches, and various quotes. An exemplary copy of one of the cornerstone works on the African-American experience. BLOCKSON 3434.