Rare Frederick Douglass Biography in a Dust Jacket
Frederick Douglass
Notes: A biography of Frederick Douglass by the longtime leader of the Tuskegee Institute (now University). Washington frames Douglass as an inspiring figure from the past, part of an era of "destruction and liberation" focused on slavery and its immediate aftermath. Washington implies that the more difficult task of "construction and reconciliation" has fallen to the generation of the early 20th century. Washington writes that Douglass "lived long enough...to realize that what slavery had been two hundred years or more in doing could not be wholly undone in thirty of forty years... In his later years he came to understand that the problem... was larger and more complicated than it seemed."
This book has been scarce on the market with the general assumption that it was not widely distributed. However, careful examination of a number of copies has identified at least three different printings, the last (the present copy) in the 1920s.
"Frederick Douglass" is a volume in the Crisis Biographies edited by Ellis P. Oberholtzer, which was planned as a twenty-five volume series "to give an impartial view of the causes, the course, and the consequences of the Civil War." Oberholtzer wanted W. E. B. Du Bois to write the biography of Douglass, and Du Bois agreed. However, Washington also expressed interest and the publisher felt he was the bigger draw and gave the assignment to Washington over the editor's recommendation of Du Bois. Du Bois wrote the biography of John Brown instead. (See The Battle for the Souls of Black Folk, pp. 212ff).
[1–5] 6–365 [1] pages.
Edition + Condition: Third printing (probably), with the following issue points: page [2] blank; publication place listed as "Philadelphia" on the title page; binding of medium-grained medium blue cloth; title, author, and "Macrae | Smith Co" stamped in black on the spine; no frontispiece; pages bulking 1-3/8 inches; no edges gilt (the second issue seems to have a two-sided frontispiece and no series ad on page [2]; some copies have new publisher information pasted onto the title page).
We have dated this copy to about 1925 because it has Macrae Smith Co. as the publisher on the spine of the book. According to Ryerson University Special Collections finding aid for the publisher's papers, Macrae Smith took over George W. Jacobs Co. in that year.
This is a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket, with some chipping to the top edge and a few old tape repairs on the verso. Very scarce in a dust jacket.
Publication: Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Company, [ca. 1925].
Item No: #362465
Price: $6,000