Memoir Of Pierre Toussaint, Born A Slave In St. Domingo. by [Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer] - 1854

Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Company, 1854. Second edition. Hardcover. Good. 18.5 x 11.5 cm. 12mo. 124pp. Bound in blink-stamped green cloth. Frontispiece portrait. Stated second edition. Chipping and fading to head and tail of spine. Corners are bumped. Binding is still tight. Foxing to frontispiece and tissue guard. Narrative of a Haitian-American hairdresser, philanthropist and one time slave, later freed, brought to New York in 1787. He took the naem Toussaint in honor of Revolutionary Haitan leader Toussaint Louverture. Sabin 39737.

Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Company, 1854. Second Edition. Cloth. Very good. Second edition of Memoir of Pierre Toussaint, Born a Slave in St. Domingo by Hannah F.S. Lee.. Twelvemo, [2], 124pp. Original publisher's cloth, decorative designs stamped in blind on covers and spine. Stated "Second Edition" on title page. Lacking frontispiece portrait. Solid text block, sunning to spine, wear to corners and spine ends, some foxing, previous ownership notations on front endpapers. Pencil scribbles on rear endpapers. (Sabin 39737). This scarce memoir follows the life of Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), a Haitian-born New York hairdresser and philanthropist. The former slave was brought to New York City by his owners in 1787 and freed in 1807. In 1996, Toussaint was declared "venerable" by Pope John Paul II.

Boston: Crosby, Nichols & Company, 1854. First Edition. 12mo. Publisher's blind-stamped blue cloth, decoratively titled in gilt on spine; pale yellow coated endpapers; frontispiece portrait; 124pp. Ex Marietta [Ohio?] Public Library, with early paper spine label, bookplate, and pocket at rear; else a tight, Very Good or better copy, slightly foxed on the frontispiece but otherwise quite well-preserved. LCP notes two variants to the binding, one with a "book" design in the gilt spine-title, the other with an "arrow" design (no priority); ours is the first listed. Posthumous biography of Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), born into slavery in Haiti. Toussaint later became a successful hairdresser in New York City, making a small fortune as the preferred coiffeur to Manhattan's society women. He was also highly active in Catholic philanthropy, providing assistance to thousands of new Haitian immigrants to New York through mid-century. The memoir was penned by the popular and prolific American novelist… Read More