Raynor HCA 2013-10
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/24/2013
An authentic issue of Gentleman’s Magazine, September 1773, 64pp., disbound, near fine. From the interior, is a printing of a poem titled; "On Recollection" which was written by the famed black poetess Phillis Wheatley. This piece also includes a brief biography of her as well. The poem prints 1/2 page, but the 1/4 page biography is strong. In part, “This piece is taken from a small collection of poems ... written by Phillis Wheatley, a negro of Boston who was brought from Africa in 1761 ... A testimony in favor of the poems, as the genuine productions of this young person is signed by the Governor ... and in all this it is said, disgraceful as it may be ... ‘this poor girl was brought an uncultivated barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been and now is A Slave.’” Although the date and place of Wheatley’s birth are not documented, scholars believe that Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753 in West Africa, most likely in present-day Gambia. Wheatley was brought to British-ruled Boston, Massachusetts on July 11, 1761, on a slave ship called The Phillis. At the age of eight, she was sold to the wealthy Boston merchant and tailor John Wheatley, who bought the young girl as a servant for his wife Susanna. John and Susanna Wheatley named the young girl Phillis, after the ship that had brought her to America. She was given their last name of Wheatley, as was a common custom if any surname was used for slaves.
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