Life of John Thompson, A Fugitive Slave. Containing His History of 25 Years in Bondage, and His Providential Escape. Written By Himself

Worcester, Ma, 1856. Very good.. vi,[13]-143,[1]pp. 12mo. Original brown publisher's cloth, stamped in blind and gilt. Chipping to head of spine, corners lightly bumped. Gift inscription on front flyleaf. Minor toning and foxing. First edition. "Thompson was one of seven children born into slavery on the Wagar plantation in Maryland in 1812. He remained on the plantation of his birth until the death of the old Mistress' in October of 1822 and the subsequent division of the property in 1823 (p. 28). Thompson and his family were sold to Mr. George Thomas. Shortly thereafter, Thompson was hired out to another plantation and continued to be moved from plantation to plantation for many years. Fearing being sent further south, Thompson made a successful escape to the North with another enslaved man. In Pennsylvania, Thompson found work and married, but following the arrest of other escaped slaves in his area, he joined a whaling vessel to avoid arrest. Thompson remained at sea for several years before returning to his family. Scholars B. Eugene McCarthy and Thomas L. Doughton, introducing Thompson's Life in their collection From Bondage to Belonging: The Worcester Slave Narratives, write that Thompson subsequently gave up sea-faring and relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts, where his narrative was published in 1856 and where he died in 1860" - Documenting the American South (online). A fascinating combination of both fugitive slave and whaling narrative, and notable as an example of Black self-publishing. Not in Howes or Sabin.
Library Company Afro Americana 10230; Blockson Collection 9660; Work, page 313.