Rare Slavery Novel The Story Of A Slave: Slavery's Social Evil, 1894

The Story of a. Anonymous

Book

[Slavery & Abolition] [Literature] Anonymous. The Story of a Slave: Slavery's Social Evil. Published by the trade. [1894.] Original black and white illustrated wrappers. 8vo. 192 pages. This is a rare account of slavery by an anonymous author that romanticizes the Old South and plantation life of the slave, Paul, who is seduced by the white mistress, Virginia. Paul Hamilton Hayes' name appears in the contents page though an author is not attributed. The title page states "A realistic revelation of a social relation of slave times hitherto unwritten--from the one who has felt both [the s]lash and the caress [from their m]istress." The Story of a Slave is presented as the autobiography of a slave named Paul, but is believed to be a fictional account. The work was published anonymously and no author has since been identified. In this account, Paul was born in Alabama and learned to read and write as a child. When he was eighteen, he began to work as a field hand on a Choteaux family plantation. He later moved to another of his master's plantations to work as a house-boy. Here, he met and fell in love with his master's daughter, Virginia Choteaux. Soon, Virginia discovers she is pregnant, but before the lovers can arrange an escape, Virginia's unsuspecting parents arrange for her marriage to a young white man. The memoir concludes with news of Paul's former mistress's death, some years after the Civil War." This summary was written perhaps about an earlier publication of this book around 1894 published by Wesley, Elmore & Benson and this copy may be a later publication in paperback for the trade but is a rare pulp copy. Title page has a 1" chip in the center of some text. The contents page is detached from binding. Edges of front and back covers have chips and tears. Overall condition is clean with no writing, underlining, or highlighting.

Item #21864

Price: $450.00