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[Phillis Wheatley]. Heaven the Residence of the Saints: A Sermon Occasioned by the Sudden and Much Lamented Death ...
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Description
[Phillis Wheatley]. Heaven the Residence of the Saints: A Sermon Occasioned by the Sudden and Much Lamented Death of the Rev. George Whitefield...by Ebenezer Pemberton. [London]: E. and C. Dilly, 1771. Octavo (5.5" x 8.5"). 31, [1] pages. Bound with Wheatley's poem, "An Elegiac Poem on the Death of That Celebrated Divine...Mr. George Whitefield...by Phillis, a Servant Girl of Seventeen Years of Age, belonging to Mr. J. Wheatley of Boston..." Rebound. This is the first appearance in book form of the broadside that appeared a year earlier in 1770.This is Phillis Wheatley's first English appearance in print, occurring two years before the London edition of her Poems on Various Subjects, and features a moving three-page poem inspired by the death of the evangelist minister, Reverend George Whitefield. It was originally printed in Boston in 1770. Whitefield was patron of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, and served as her personal chaplain for a number of years. Hastings was also responsible for subsidizing the printing of Wheatley's first book in 1773 and a grateful Wheatley dedicated the edition to the countess. Phillis sent "Elegiac Poem" to the Countess of Huntingdon, who was so impressed that she agreed to finance publication of Phillis's other poems; they might otherwise have remained in obscurity and lost to history.
Phillis Wheatley (circa 1753-1784) was believed to have been born in Senegal, West Africa. When she was around eight years old, she was kidnapped and brought as an enslaved child to Boston, where she was purchased by John Wheatley, a prosperous tailor, to be the personal servant of his wife, Susanna. The couple taught her to read and write and encouraged her interest in books. She advanced quickly and authored her first poem around the age of fourteen. Wheatley also read extensively in Greek and Roman history, Greek mythology, and contemporary English poets, and her work strongly reveals the influence of Gray and Pope. Because of her poor health, her master's son took her to England in 1773, where her popularity was immediate and tremendous. "Wheatley wrote at a time when women suffered great discouragement for expressing political and literary thoughts... Wheatley's Poems... are considered one of the most important books relating to African-American literature and one of the most celebrated relating to a black author." (Charles L. Blockson, A Commented Bibliography of One Hundred and One Influential Books By and About People of African Descent (1556-1982). A Collector's Choice). Most of her poems are elegies, and most reveal her intense religious faith. Although little is written about herself or her circumstances in America, her poems are polished, sophisticated, and similar in style to many turned out in both England and America at the time. She was emancipated in 1773, shortly after the publication of her first book. By 1779 both Susanna and John had died, leaving Phillis in near poverty. Around this time, she married a free black grocer named John Peters, but misfortune continued to plague the family. She gave birth to three children who tragically died young, and Peters was imprisoned for debt in 1784. Phillis, whose own health was always frail, died in December of that year at the age of just thirty-one.
Reference: Sabin 59606. ESTC T79049.
Condition: Later rebound in red calf and decorated in gilt. Endpapers refreshed. Pencil notation to front free endpaper. Pages very lightly toned internally.
Auction Info
2022 October 19 Historic African Americana Signature® Auction #6248 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
October, 2022
19th
Wednesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 12
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