American Poetry, Selected and Original. Vol I (all published).
Litchfield: Collier and Buel, [1793]. Item #1082 12mo. viii, (4) blank, 304 pp., (6) pp. subscribers list, (1)p. errata. Front endpaper lacking, top inch of blank front flyleaf clipped away, taking an old ownership signature. Period full leather binding, gilt ruled spine, gilt stamped red morocco spine label. Front joint starting at both ends, rear joint neatly repaired. Ownership markings of Paul Van Pelt, N[ew] York on front flyleaf and rear endpaper, and a later ownership stamp “Ex Libris Wilson H. Kimnach” on front pastedown. First American poetry anthology. The collection comprises poems by Trumbull, Dwight, Barlow, Hopkins, Hopkinson, Humphreys, Livingston, Mrs. Morton, J. Allen, W. Dunlap, Freneau, and others. "This was the first Anthology of American poems. Only “Vol. I” was ever printed. On pages 217 to 219 there is a poem of 11 four-line stanzas called “African Distress”. This poem was originally printed anonymously in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine, Feb. 21, 1788, in an incorrect manner. 'The theme is the distress which the inhabitants of Guinea experienced at the loss of their children, who were stolen from them by the persons employed in the barbarous traffic of human flesh. It is an attempt to represent the anguish of a mother whose son and daughter were taken from her by a ship’s crew belonging to a country where the God of Justice and Mercy is owned and worshipped.' " Heartman. The subscriber’s list is a who’s who of the Connecticut River Valley, Hudson Valley New York, and Philadelphia. Women subscribers include Mrs. Mary Bringhurst of Philadelphia, Mrs. Broome of New York, Mrs. Betsy Chester of Wethersfield, Miss. H. Cooperthwaite, of Philadelphia, Miss Sally Dwight of Northampton, Miss Lucy Payne of Philadelphia, Miss Sarah Pemberton of Philadelphia, Miss Mary S. Smith of Litchfield, Miss Sally Talman of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Dolly P. Todd of Philadelphia. Evans 25104. BAL (Dunlap) 4976. BAL (Dwight) 5046. BAL (Morton) 14556. BAL (Trumbull) 20545. Wegelin 489. Item #67379 JT/DSC
Price: $1,000.00