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“I SELL THE SHADOW...”
78
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—BAUMFREE, ISABELLA).
SOJOURNER
TRUTH. I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance.
Carte-de-visite photograph,
on the original mount with the copyright notice on the reverse; small flaw to the emulsion
in the lower left corner.
Michigan, 1864
[600/900]
Born into slavery on an upstate New York Dutch farm, Isabella Baumfree was later to rename herself
“Sojourner Truth.” This followed her declaration of her own freedom. She was a major figure in the
struggle for emancipation and freedom.
79
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) LINCOLN, ABRAHAM.
“The First Day of
January, Anno Domini 1864 Will always be to the COLORED PEOPLE OF
THE UNITED STATES the most memorable day in the History of the Race.”
Broadside, 20 x 12 inches, printed in gold on glazed blue-black paper; the text with an
elaborate floral gilt border. Fragile with some wrinkling but no apparent damage. In a
period frame. Needs conservation.
Baltimore, 1864
[1,500/2,500]
BROADSIDE TO COMMEMORATE
THE GIFT OF A DELUXE BIBLE TO
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
,
IN GRATI
-
TUDE FOR EMANCIPATION
.
“From
that day they will date their rise and
progress as a people, worthy of the
rights and privileges of Citizenship.
But they will especially look upon it
as the dawn of universal freedom and
the sure harbinger of their redemption
from the ignorance and degradation
that slavery has heretofore fastened
alike upon the bond and free. To
Abraham Lincoln do the Colored
Men of American owe this ines-
timable change in their condition and
prospects, when on the First Day of
January 1864, he issued that
PROCLAMATION OF FREE-
DOM, which will hereafter be
regarded as the sublime State Paper of
Modern Civilization.” With these
words, the Loyal Colored People of
Baltimore presented Lincoln with “a
gift which we deem the most appro-
priate token of our gratitude and
affection — THE BIBLE — From
which he learned how much of love
and humanity our Saviour compressed
into the Golden rule which he has so
nobly followed — ‘Do unto others, as
ye would have them do unto you.’”
Beneath the presentation are the
names of the men and women of the “Loyal Colored People of Baltimore.”
NO COPY LOCATED BY
OCLC
;
NO COPY IN THE LINCOLN
/
BARRETT SALE
,
though a similar presentation of a book given
to Lincoln by the colored people of New Orleans brought $400 in the Barrett sale in 1952 (lot 546).