Printed & Manuscript African Americana: Rescheduled for May 2020

At Auction May 7, 2020*

Complete Catalogue

*This auction has been rescheduled from its original date, and will now be held on Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 10:30 AM ET, previewing online only. At this time, our exhibition and auction location at 104 East 25th Street is closed.

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Leading Abolitionists

Lot 358: Sojourner Truth, carte-de-visite by Corydon C. Randall, albumen, circa 1882. $3,000 to $4,000.

Lot 232: Frederick Douglass, war-era carte-de-visite, albumen, circa 1865. $4,000 to $6,000.

Antebellum Era & Slavery

Among the highlights will be an 1836 autograph book with inscriptions by noted early African-American orators Moses Roper and Peter Williams. The large section on slavery and abolition will include several runaway broadsides and a miniature printing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (the only one produced in pamphlet form) intended for soldiers to distribute among the freedmen in the south. Military papers include material written by African-American soldiers, including a Civil War letter and a Spanish-American War diary.

Lot 39: Early German-American anti-slavery broadside, *Sclaven-Handel*, Philadelphia, 1794. $12,000 to $18,000.

Lot 40: Autograph book with inscriptions by early African-American orators Moses Roper and Peter Williams, London, 1821-40 and 1854. $10,000 to $15,000.

Civil War-Era

Lot 71: Abraham Lincoln, *Emancipation Proclamation by the President of the United States*, pamphlet, 1862. $10,000 to $15,000.

Family Archives

An archive of family papers covers five generations of the distinguished Ruby-Jackson family of Portland, Maine, and includes previously unknown photographs of the Texas Reconstruction state senator George Thompson Ruby, as well as a Tuskegee Airman.

Lot 260: Family papers of the Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens and the persons who served him, 1866-1907. $25,000 to $35,000.

Lot 261: Family papers of the distinguished Ruby-Jackson family of Portland, Maine, which includes an Underground Railroad conductor, Tuskegee Airman, and a Reconstruction Senator, 1853-1961. $3,000 to $4,000.

Art, Music & Entertainment

Lot 106: Archive of letters, postcards, and greeting cards sent by Romare Bearden, 1949-87. $5,000 to $7,500.

Lot 345: E. Simms Campbell, *A Night-Club Map of Harlem,* featured in inaugural issue of *Manhattan: A Weekly for Wakeful New Yorkers*, 1933. $10,000 to $15,000.

Lot 248: Papers of the comedian Nipsey Russell, including a letter from Martin Luther King, 1929-2000. $6,000 to $9,000.

Lot 90: Edmonia Lewis, carte-de-visite by Henry Rocher of the prominent sculptor, circa 1866-71. $3,000 to $4,000.

Civil Rights Movement

Posters from the Civil Rights Movement and Black Panthers will include an unusual number of rare or previously unknown pieces.

Lot 118: *The Black Panther: Black Community News Service*, 44 issues, San Francisco, 1967-1971. $3,000 to $4,000.

Lot 277: Ernest Withers, *I Am A Man, Sanitation Workers Strike*, silver print, 1968. $5,000 to $7,500.

Lot 205: *March For Freedom Now!*, poster for the 1960 Republican Convention. $4,000 to $6,000.

Previewing Online Only

While current restrictions will not allow for a physical exhibition or in-person examination of the material, our staff is hard at work preparing condition reports and additional photographs of the items in the sale, and our team is available to field condition report requests.

The auction itself will be held live. While there will not be bidding in the room, we will be accepting order bids, and interested buyers will be able to participate live online, including on the Swann Galleries app.