All 3 engraved plates are present including the one of Douglass at the Frontis of the book with a tissue separation. The gilt title on the spine is heavily faded. It was either an old library copy or someone marked the spine for their personal library with a number and the letter 'D' for the author's last name. The book shows its age with rubbing and bumping on the green cloth embossed cover. And he recognized that African Americans must play a conspicuous role in that struggle'. Throughout his life, 'Douglass understood that the struggle for emancipation and equality demanded forceful, persistent, and unyielding agitation. As his narrative unfolds, Frederick Douglass-abolitionist, journalist, orator, and one of the most powerful voices to emerge from the American civil rights movement-transforms himself from slave to fugitive to reformer, leaving behind a legacy of social, intellectual, and political thought.' 'The most influential African American of the 19th century' (ANB), Douglass was 'the most powerful abolitionist speaker in the country' (Negro History). ''My Bondage and My Freedom,' a deep meditation on the meaning of slavery, race, and freedom, and on the power of faith and literacy, as well as a portrait of an individual and a nation a few years before the Civil War. He describes this much better than I can. It was in a newer reprint from 2003 a forward written by John John Stauffer. I am including another piece I found that helped describe this book perfectly. Here, he tells of his mother, who 'was the only one of all the slaves and colored people in Tuckahoe' who could read, and how she inspired his thirst for knowledge.

The book is divided into sections describing his years in slavery and his years as a freedman. This second book is the scarcest, of the author's three autobiographical narratives. The book measures 8' X 5 3/8' with 464 pages.

We will describe condition in detail below. We were excited to find this exceptional piece of Black American History which was Douglass's 2nd autobiography. A First Edition First Printing of 1855 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass with an introduction by Dr.

My bondage and my freedom 1855