Bradford, Sarah H. (1818-1912)
Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman.

Auburn, NY: W.J. Moses, 1869.

First edition, octavo, illustrated with full-length portrait frontispiece of Tubman; bound in original terracotta publisher's cloth ruled in blind, stamped with gilt, all edges tinted red (front and rear fly-leaves lacking; stained, worn); 7 x 4 ½ in.

Afro-Americana 1467; Blockson 3950.

Written only four years after the end of the American Civil War, this first edition of the first book ever written about the legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman describes in detail her life, adventures, and various harrowing journeys endured as perhaps the most courageous conductor for the Underground railroad. After settling in Auburn, NY which saw an end to her constant activity before and after the Civil War, Tubman met Sarah H. Bradford. Bradford interviewed Tubman and recorded her life history up to 1869. Her biography contains many notices of Tubman's experiences previously unknown and/or unwritten, rendering it "a major watershed in the evolution of the Tubman legend" that was "the principal textual source for information about Tubman for more than a quarter-century." (Sernett)

Condition
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