Sojourner Truth Advertisement Circular for Narrative and The Book of Life....

Description

Sojourner Truth Advertisement Circular for Narrative and The Book of Life. Two pages on one leaf, 5.5" x 10" (sight), no place, 1875. Sojourner Truth's biography was initially published in 1850 as the Narrative of Sojourner Truth. In 1875, she republished it along with The Book of Life, which picks up where Narrative ended and adds a wealth of new material from her abolition and women's rights activism. The circular reads in part: "Sojourner is now an invalid...having been confined to her room for nearly a year...She confidently trusts that her friends will immediately assist her in disposing of this VOLUME...This CIRCULAR is sent out with the request that those who receive it will aid the Old Pilgrim by helping sell her book..." It is matted, double-glazed, and framed to an overall size of 13" x 18". The circular is far rarer than the book. This is the only example we have ever seen of the circular. Not examined outside of the frame.

Condition: Smoothed folds. Minute scattered foxing and soiling.

More Information: Sojourner Truth (circa 1797-1883) was born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree (after her father's enslaver) in New York. She had already run away from the chains of slavery when it was officially abolished in the state in 1827. Around 1840 she became a traveling preacher and adopted the name Sojourner Truth in recognition of that calling and, as she asserted, following the instructions of the Holy Spirit. In the late 1840s she became involved in the organized Abolition Movement, and in 1851 presented her most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman?", to the Ohio Women's Rights Convention. She quickly became a well-known advocate of women's suffrage. During the Civil War, she actively raised supplies and funds for black regiments and met Lincoln at the White House in 1864. Sojourner remained active in public life, particularly on the lecture circuit, until 1875, when she returned to her adopted home in Michigan, passing away there quietly in 1883.