WHEATLEY, PHILLIS
Poems on various subjects, religious and moral. By Phillis Wheatley, negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England. London: A. Bell, Bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, 1773. First edition, with the advertisement on the final page with the "Lately published in 2 vols. Twelves..." reading (no priority established). 20th century half brown leather, marbled sides. 6 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches (17 x 11.5 cm); engraved frontispiece portrait after Scipio Morehead (second state), [viii], [9]-124 pp., [4] pp., including the final page of publisher's ads, collating [A]-Q^(4). Binding separated at front interior hinge, overall a large copy (the full platemark of the engraving is visible), old traces of library ownership (faint stamped accession number on dedication leaf, circular blindstamp on leaf F1), generally a very clean copy.
The first edition of the first book of poetry written by an African-American author. Sold into slavery at the age of seven, the poet was named Phillis for the slave ship that bought her to Boston, and Wheatley after John Wheatley, the Boston merchant and tailor who purchased her. She was fortunate in that John Wheatley believed strongly in the education of women (an unusual propensity for that time and place) and held her race to be no bar to learning. By the age of twelve, she was reading some Latin and Greek classics. Recognizing her talent and intelligence, the Wheatley family encouraged her pursuit of literature. In 1773, she went with the Wheatley's son Nathaniel to London, where she became quite celebrated during her sojourn there, and was encouraged to publish her poetry by Selena Hastings, the Countess of Huntington, to whom the present work is dedicated. Returning to America, she met George Washington in March of 1776, after writing a poem in his praise. Wheatley was emancipated upon the death of her master in 1778, and married shortly thereafter, to a free black grocer named John Peters. Sadly, he fell into debt and was imprisoned, and Wheatley's fortunes rapidly declined thereafter, and she died in 1784 at the age of thirty-one, with her infant son dying a few hours later: a tragic end to a remarkable career.
Scipio Morehead, who produced the design after which the frontispiece to this book was taken, was also a slave in Boston, and is commemorated by Wheatley in the poem on pages 114-115 of this book To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works. This is his only extant composition.