(HARPER, F.E.W., DELANY, Martin R., et al)
The Anglo-African Magazine
Volume 1 (January-December, 1859). Octavo. 400pp. Bound in modern period-sympathetic quarter morocco and paper covered boards. Engraved frontispiece of Alexander Dumas. A few small tears in the margins of some pages, some foxing and small stains to the indifferent quality paper, else very near fine. Owner's signature ("Ellis A. Potter") on two endpapers. Almost a complete run (only three other issues were produced from January-March, 1860) of a remarkably rare and important periodical, with contributions by many prominent African-Americans including the publisher, Thomas Hamilton. Among the other contributors are Frances E.W. Harper, Martin R. Delany, J. Mercer Langston, Edward W. Blyden, James M'Cune Smith, J.W.C. Pennington, Bishop Daniel Payne, Sarah M. Douglass, and William C. Nell. Two contributions stand out: "The Two Offers" by F.E.W. Harper (here referred to as Frances Ellen Watkins) which appears complete in the September and October issues, is the first published short story by an African-American woman. The volume also contains substantial portions of the first novel by an African-American to be published in the United States, Blake, or, The Huts of America by Martin R. Delany. Chapters 1-23 and 29-31 appeared serially in the January-June issues. They were later reprinted along with the rest of Part One in the Weekly African-American in the 1860s. The novel was never published in complete form until 1970. The only novels by African-Americans that precede, Clotel and The Garies and Their Friends, were both published previously in London and not published in the United States until 1864 and 1969, respectively. Other articles include "On the Fourteenth Query of Thomas Jefferson's Notes on Virginia" by James M'Cune Smith; "Colored American Patriots" by William C. Nell; a poem, "Gone to God," as well as an essay, "Our Greatest Want" by F.E.W. Harper; and many others worthy of mention. The ownership signature of Potter may belong to an African-American by that name who served as the Recording Secretary of the African Civilization Society of New York, but who supposedly emigrated to Liberia late in 1859, and thus may not have received all issues of the magazine, or at least did not receive them until later.
[BTC #282567]
