26 / 326
A FAMILY RUNS AWAY
22
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) VIRGINIA.
NOTICE. This is to Certify
that I have in my Possession, Three Negroes, Anderson, Lucinda and Her Child
. . . which Negroes has absconded from Mecklenburg County, Virginia . . .
Manuscript copy of a public notice, announcing the capture of a family of runaway slaves.
Small folio leaf, 7
1
/
2
x 9
1
/
4
inches; creases where folded; paper toned, writing lightly faded.
Granville County, VA, 18 April 1821
[1,500/2,500]
A rare notice apparently posted by slave owner who has regained his slaves from a slave catcher. The
text continues: “The said Negroes have been in the possession of William Moody of Virginia. This is
therefore to forewarn all persons from trading for said Negroes or Carrying them out of this County as
they are my property, and have never been conveyed to said Moody in any way whatsoever. They are
further forewarned from trading with said Moody, or his Agent for said Negroes, as they will be delt
(sic) by as the law dictate.” This is the first such document we have ever seen.
23
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) ANONYMOUS.
Grand Celebration of the
Bobalition of African Slavery!!!
Pictorial broadside, 17
1
/
2
x 10
1
/
2
inches, with two large
woodcuts at the top of the page; professional restoration to an uneven portion at the top of
the page, approximately 3
1
/
2
to 3
3
/
4
inches across the sheet, including a portion of the two
woodcuts.
[Boston, 1824]
[3,500/5,000]
An exceedingly rare broadside satire of the annual celebration of the 1807 ban on the African Slave
Trade popular among Boston’s black community. Bigotry in the South was of course to be expected.
But the ugly truth is; people the North, and the Northeast in particular, the home of abolitionism,
harbored deep-rooted prejudice against people of color. The latter were not even permitted to openly
celebrate the nation’s birthday. So, a special holiday was created, the first of January, to commemorate
the 1807 end of the African Slave trade. Bigots lost no time, and a number of broadsides and engrav-
ings caricaturing the celebration began to appear. OCLC locates only a single copy of this broadside at
New York Historical Society. A copy of a different but equally vile version from 1822 is known.
22