69 GRIMKÉ, Angelina. An Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States, issued by an Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women. New York: printed by William S. Dorr, 1837 heralding “a new day for interracial women’s abolition” Exceedingly scarce first edition of one of only two addresses published in the wake of the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women’s inaugural meeting. The 1837 session was a historic milestone, being both “the first public political meeting of US women” and “the first interracial gathering of any consequence” (Sterling, p. 3). We cannot trace any copies of the Appeal in institutions outside of the US, where WorldCat traces around 25 copies, and no other first editions have surfaced at auction; we trace just two other appearances of this title at auction, in both cases the second edition (Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838). The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women aimed “to interest women in the subject of anti-slavery, and to establish a system of operations throughout every town and village in the free States, that would exert a powerful influence in the abolition of American slavery” ( Proceedings , 1837, pp. 3–4). It held three annual sessions from 1837 to 1839. The first session, which opened in New York on 9 May 1837, assembled an unprecedented 71 delegates from Massachusetts (22), Pennsylvania (22), New York (19), Rhode Island (3), New Hampshire (2), Ohio (2), and New Jersey (1). Both Black and White women attended; Grimké biographer Kerri K. Greenidge remarks that “by the convention’s end, such interracial cooperation was more than performative; it actually led to substantive political action . . . announcing a new day for interracial women’s abolition” (p. 75). No men were admitted, and the anti-abolitionist press “viciously lampooned the convention as an ‘Amazonian farce’ staged by ‘a monstrous regiment of women’” (Karcher, p. 245). In addition to the minutes, which were circulated to participants and non-attending anti-slavery societies, just two publications resulted. The first publication, the present work, is “of particular importance. It represented a major contribution to the anti-slavery crusade. In this 68-page pamphlet Angelina first took up two objections to female abolitionism. One was the charge that the abolitionists were setting back the process of emancipation, which she denied without much explanation. The other was that slavery was a political question, with which women should not be concerned” (Brown, p. 8). What followed was a stirring denouncement of slavery as a moral and religious crime, a discussion of racial prejudice, and a challenge to the “natural province of women”. The second publication to stem from the 1837 session was a 32-page Address to Free Colored Americans (see following item), written by Angelina’s sister Sarah Grimké. The second and third sessions took place in 1838 and 1839 respectively; almost three times as many delegates attended the second as the inaugural meeting, and when the third session concluded, the American Anti-Slavery Society granted women the right to take part in its proceedings. Once women were permitted election as officers from May 1840, Lucretia
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68 GOLDMAN, Emma. My Disillusionment in Russia. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1923 inscribed to an anarchist colleague First edition, first printing, of this anarchist critique of the civil war years, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To John Turner, my good old Comrade, Fraternally Emma Goldman, London. Dec. 1924”. Copies in the dust jacket are extremely uncommon; those inscribed or signed particularly so, with two examples only showing on auction records. John Turner (1865–1934) was an English anarchist and labour organiser who met Goldman in London in 1895. The following year “Turner was the first prominent European English-speaking anarchist to tour America; Goldman helped arrange his itinerary and chaired many of his meetings” (Falk, p. 237). In 1903 he became the first person to be deported from the United States for being in violation of the Anarchist Exclusion Act. Within months of Goldman’s presentation of this copy to Turner, there was a cooling between the two, elucidated by Goldman in her autobiography, Living My Life (1931). In particular, she took Turner to task for putting his name to the 1925 Trade Union Report on Russia, which she describes as “a complete whitewash of the Soviet regime . . . I was shocked to see John Turner sign the report”, going on to say that he “moved in a groove and lacked the independence to stand out against the Communist rooters”. Octavo. Original dark red cloth, gilt-lettered spine and front cover. With dust jacket. Title page printed in red and black, with publisher’s Aldine dolphin-and-anchor device. Unclipped jacket toned, splits at folds, a few other nicks and chips, spine of binding cocked and gilt lettering dulled, a little wear to lower tips, slight white smudge to top edge. A very good copy. ¶ Candace Falk, Emma Goldman, A Documentary History of the American Years: Made for America , 1890–1901 , 2008. £4,250 [145540]
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70 GRIMKÉ, Sarah Moore. An Address to Free Colored Americans. Issued by an Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women. New York: printed by William S. Dorr, 1837 “the worst is not generally known” Very rare first edition of one of only two addresses published in the wake of the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women’s inaugural meeting (see previous item). We cannot trace any copies of the Address in institutions outside of the US, where WorldCat traces around 17 copies, and no other first editions have surfaced at auction, nor of any later printing. Octavo, 32 pp. Stab-sewn as issued. Housed in a black cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. Lightly foxed. Extremely well preserved in its original state. ¶ Not in Howes or Sabin (Sabin 81782 is a variant title by the Philadelphia chapter, printed by Merrihew and Gunn, 1838, pp. 12). ; Kerri K. Greenidge, The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family , 2023 £17,500 [160254]
Mott and Lydia Maria Child were elected to the executive committee, and Abby Kelley, a non-organisational member of the Convention, served on the business committee. Octavo, 68 pp. Stab-sewn as issued. Housed in a black cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. First and last few leaves browned, foxed, short marginal tear to leaf 2.1. Very well preserved in its original state. ¶ Not in Howes or Sabin (Sabin 81888 is the 1838 second edition). Ira V. Brown, “‘Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?’ The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, 1837–1839”, Pennsylvania History, 50/1, January 1983, pp. 1–19; Kerri K. Greenidge, The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family, 2023; Carolyn L. Karcher, The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child , 1994; Dorothy Sterling, ed., Turning the World Upside Down: The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women . . . , 1987. £22,500 [160255]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
LOUDER THAN WORDS
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