New York City: American Bible Society, 1835. Unbound. This certificate, which measures 10.5” x 16.75”, was sent as a stampless folded letter. It bears a manuscript “25” rate marking (the cost to deliver single-sheet mail over 400 miles) as well as “paid” manuscript and hand-stamped markings. An annotation in the..... More about Certificate of Membership in the American Bible Society for John Blount Miller, a slaveholder in...

Manchester: William Irwin, 1848. First Edition. Leather. 8vo. Deluxe edition with two extra (twelve total) full-page engravings with tissue-guards. xxv, 564 pp plus 2 pages of advertisements. Black morocco with gilt decorations and lettering. All edges gilt. Text printed within an engraved border. Expertly rebacked with original spine laid down... More about A Tribute for the Negro: being a Vindication of the Moral Intellectual, and Religious...

New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 1861. First Edition. Sheet Music. Complete: 6 pages including the cover. Early Civil War music with a terrific cover showing five black misfit volunteers in various milita and zouave uniforms. Slightly trimmed and with nice corners and old tape binding so probably from an... More about Abraham's Daughter, or Raw Recruits [Sheet Music

Boston, [Massachusetts] to Hartford, [ Connecticut]: May 22, 1795. Unbound. This manuscript, folded-letter invoice, dated May 22 1795, measures approximately 7.5” x 11” unfolded. It is addressed to Mr. Selden Chapman, Merchant, Hartford and bears a straight-line Boston postmark dated 22/May. (See page 167, vol 1, ASCC.) It bears a.... More about Mailed invoice for shipping five hogsheads of rum delivered by the New England slave ship, Sloop...

Duluth, Minnesota: Duluth Superior Milling Co, 1909. Unbound. The multi-color illustrated advertising cover (envelope) features a African-American baker, dressed in a spotless white suit with red tie, resting his right elbow on a sack of Duluth Flour while holding a sliced loaf of white bread in his left hand. The... More about Advertising envelope for Duluth Imperial Flour

Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Rockingham, Virginia: 1889. Unbound. This two-page letter, dated 19 November 1889, is in nice shape with mailing folds. A transcript will be provided. In this letter the Police Chief of Lancaster, Pennsylvania notifies a Rockingham County, Virginia to be on the look-out for two horse... More about Letter from a Pennsylvania police chief to a Virginia justice of the peace requesting assistance...

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1881. Church, Frederick S. and James H. Moser. First Edition, 1st State. Hard Cover. 12mo. Meets all BAL 7100 first state points. 232 pages. 8 pp. advertisements. Frontispiece and 7 plates inserted; other illustrations in text. Last line of p. 9 shows the word... More about Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation

On board the Euterpe: January 5, 1865. 1865. Unbound. Lightly soiled with some doodling at the upper corner of the first page. In this letter, Goddard expresses heartfelt sorrow to “Eva” that he would not be able to take leave for a visit. The reason he explains as follows... More about A LOVE LETTER FROM A WHITE OFFICER ASSIGNED TO THE ALL-AFRICAN-AMERICAN 25TH CORPS AS IT SAILED...

Newport, [Rhode Island]: October 15, 1767. Unbound. This manuscript receipt from James Tanner to Ann Rhodes (received on her behalf by Edward Rhodes) measures 7.5” x 3”. Minor edgewear including two small chips that do not affect any text. The receipt reads in part: “For 4 Days work... More about Receipt for work performed by a rented Rhode Island slave on the Sloop Venus shortly before it...

New York: New York: Jos. W. Stern and M. Witmark respectively, 1919. Unbound. Both pieces of sheet music measure 9.25” x 12.25”. Four pages each including the covers. The cover of Mirandy features a large portrait half-tone photo of Jim Europe in uniform and a smaller cameo of Noble Sissel... More about Two pieces of sheet music—Mirandy and On Patrol in No Man’s Land—as performed by the 360th...

Cedarville, Ohio: circa 1915. One photograph, measuring 9.75” x 7.75”, shows an entire finely-dressed blackface minstrel company posed on an ornately curtained stage. A second photograph, approximately 7” x 5”, shows eight members of the company posed on the same stage carrying a drum, sabers, and pennants for Cedarville, Slippery... More about Grouping of three mounted minstrel photographs and two minstrel music pamphlets belonging to a...

[Vicinity of Toledo, Ohio]: Circa 1910-1913. Album. This faux leather album measures approximately 7.5” x 6” and contains 50 photographs (mostly silver gelatin but two cyanotypes as well).. The photos vary slightly in size, but most are about 5.5” x 3.5” inches. The album is identified as the “Property of... More about Photograph album documenting an Ohio farm family’s life including images of African-American...

New York: Jos. W. Stern, 1902. First Edition. Sheet Music. 8 pages including the cover. Clean; no splits or tape. Some minor cover wear including tiny closed marginal tears. Owner's name on front cover. Long before he wrote the classic fictional autobiography, "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man," James Weldon... More about Under the Bamboo Tree - Sheet Music