Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

“I SELLTHE SHADOWTO SUPPORTTHE SUBSTANCE” 48 c   (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Carte-de-visite portrait of Sojourner Truth. Albumen photograph, 3 1 / 2 x 2 1 / 4 inches, on original printed mount with caption on recto and her copyright imprint on verso; mount cropped to photo at top edge; crisp and clean image. Michigan, circa 1864-65 [1,500/2,500] Sojourner Truth (circa 1797-1883) escaped from slavery in 1826 and became one of the most influential orators of the abolitionist movement. She produced and copyrighted a series of carte-de-visite portraits in vari- ous poses to support her work—and to maintain control over her image. This seems to have been her favorite portrait, as it appears on a variety of different mounts and was used as the basis for the engraved frontispiece of her 1875 autobiography. Grigsby, Enduring Truths: Sojourner’s Shadows and Substance, pages 43, 73-76 and image 55a (this mount).