ANONYMOUS [Martha Griffith Browne], AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FEMALE SLAVE, copyright 1856 by J. S. Redfield, with date of 1857 on title page under name of Redfield, as publisher, at 34 Beekman Street, New York. First edition. Small 8vo, pp. viii,  9-401, 8 [ads]. Bound in original blind ruled brown cloth, with title and publisher's name stamped in gilt on spine. Boards heavily worn and bumped, with noticeable soiling. Head and tail of spine pulled for one quarter inch. Endpapers are dark brown paper, with front free endpaper removed. Rear hinge cracked, binding a bit sprung. Contents complete, with some soiling and foxing to text (mainly to margins). Requires modest cosmestic restoration: still a fairly good copy of this very scarce Abolitionist title.

Martha Griffith Browne, the author of Autobiography of a Female Slave, was a white woman from Kentucky who, prior to her conversion to abolitionism, had been a slaveowner. Browne wrote sketches and poems for The National Anti-Slavery Standard before authoring the novel, Autobiography of a Female Slave in 1856. Autobiography of a Female Slave is one of several noteworthy antebellum novels about slavery that were written by abolitionist authors. In some cases these novels echoed the storytelling style and conventions of the slave narrative so convincingly that they were mistaken for actual autobiographies of former slaves. The effectiveness of these novels in representing slavery and the point of view of slaves often made them useful weapons in the antislavery struggle. (Documenting the American South/North American Slave Narratives, Univ. of North Caroline - Chapel Hill).

This title has been reprinted a number of times: in 1969 by the Negro Universities Press, in 1998 by Banner Books, and in 2001 by Roundhouse Publishing. The 1998 reprint contains an afterward by Joe Lockard which sets out more detailed information about Browne.

Price: $2,500.00US    $2,950.00Cdn        (#30468)