How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Volume XLIII. For the Year M.DCCLXXIII
London: Printed for D. Henry, and sold by F. Newbery, 1773. First edition. Thick 8vo. (iv), 655, (17) pp. Illustrated with 20 engraved plates. Three-quarter contemporary speckled sheep over drab paper-covered boards, red morocco spine label, stamped in gilt, rear board detached but holding, front board starting, wear at spine ends, loss at lower front corner, soiling; all edges trimmed; some leaves partially unopened; book-plate of Josiah Harrison on front paste-down; loss in bottom corner of pp. 49/50; scattered closed tears; lower portion of final map separated but present; scattered spotting and soiling.

In the September issue (p. 456) is printed Phillis Wheatley's fourth published poem "On Recollection", from her simultaneously published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (published September 1, 1773). Her poem is followed by a footnote with a short biography and commentary on her: "This piece is taken from a small collection of Poems on Various Subjects, just published, written by Phillis Wheatley, a negro of Boston, who was brought from Africa in 1761, and is now only in the twenty-first year of her age. A testimony in favour of the poems, as the genuine productions of this young person, is signed by the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, seven clergymen, and others eminent for station and literature, and also by her master: and in this it is said, disgraceful as it may be to all that have signed it, that 'this poor girl was brought an uncultivated barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is--A SLAVE!' Youth, innocence, and piety, united with genius, have not yet been able to restore her to the condition and character with which she was invested by the Great Author of her being. So powerful is custom in rendering thee heart insensible to the rights of nature, and the claims of excellence."

Wheatley is again mentioned in the May issue (p. 226), in a letter to the editor from John Wheatley. Reads in part: "...Phillis was brought from Africa to America in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age, without any assistance from school education; and by only what she was taught in the family, she, in sixteen months time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree as to read any the most difficult parts of the sacred writings, to the great astonishment of all who heard her. As to her writing, her own curiosity led her to it; and this she learned in so short a time, that, in the year 1765, she wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Occom, the Indian minister, while in England. She has a great inclination to learn the Latin tongue, and has made some progress in it. This relation is given by her master, who bought her, and with whom she now lives."