Twelve Years A Slave. Narrative of Solomon Northup, A Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and Rescued in 1853....
Auburn: Derby and Miller, et al. 1853. Good. Hardcover. Item #20237 .
Early edition. 8vo. xvi,(17)-336pp. 4pp. publisher's ads inserted between the front endpapers.
Eighth thousand. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, boards embossed in blind. Yellow coated endpapers. Illustrated with seven full page illustrations, including the frontispiece of the author.
Significantly foxed, as usual. Binding faded and worn at edges and corners, spine gilt worn, but still a presentable copy. Housed in a new, leather backed custom clamshell case.
Apparently the copy of A. A> PHipps of Smithfield, NY. There are contemporary ink notations in the front: "This to A. Alton Phipps", then, "A. A. Phipps Book". In the rear, in what might be a different hand, is "A. A. Phips Smithfield."
A farmer and a professional violinist, Northup had been a landowner in New York. In 1841, he went to Washington, D.C.; there he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold as a slave. He was held as a slave for 12 years in the Red River region of Louisiana. Made into a movie in 2013, which received the Best Picture Award.
Price: $2,500.00