Brooklyn: Printed by Thomas Kirk, 1810.
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Hardcover. First American edition. Translated by D.B. Warden. Octavo. vii [actually viii], [9]-253, [2]pp. Original boards sympathetically rebacked and with a new, period style printed spine label. Small, seamless repairs on a few leaves, all four blank endsheets present, a very good or better copy.
First published in France in 1808, *An Enquiry...* was the first European study of literature by blacks, written by Abbé Henri Gregoire, a former Bishop of Blois who had tutored Alexander Dumas. The Abbé paid particular attention to African-Americans and cited Benjamin Banneker, Phillis Wheatley, and Francis Williams among those he exemplified. According to Charles L. Blockson: "This now scarce volume set the standards by which most biographical and historical works on gifted blacks were written during the following decades. Gregoire's book was an important and authoritative contribution to Afro-American historicity." *Blockson* 18. *Work* p. 455. A pleasing copy and rare in boards.
Item #421149
