Narrative of Riots at Alton: in Connection with the Death of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy

Alton: Published by George Holton, 1838. Very good plus.. 159pp. 12mo. Publisher's brown cloth, copper spine titles. Very minor shelf wear. Small ink notations to front endpapers, minor foxing. An especially nice copy of the first edition of the story of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, the first abolitionist martyr of the 19th century America, written by the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Beecher, like all of his family, was a passionate opponent of slavery. He was president of Illinois College at the time his friend Reverend Lovejoy, who had been publishing anti-slavery tracts in Illinois, was killed by a pro-slavery mob in Alton on November 7, 1837.

Lovejoy, as editor of the Observer, an anti-slavery journal, had moved his press from St. Louis to Alton, Illinois in July 1836 due to repeated threats. His office was attacked three times in the following year; he was setting up again when the press was attacked by a mob and a riot occurred. At what appeared to be a withdrawal by the mob Lovejoy opened the door to his office and was shot. Lovejoy was referred to by Beecher as "the first martyr in America to the great principles of the freedom of speech and of the press."

The present copy contains brief ink notations on the front endpapers reading "Plymouth A.S. Library" and "3 cts. per week." These appear to refer to the library of the Plymouth Anti-Slavery Society in New Hampshire, likely meaning that the book cost three cents a week to borrow from its subscription library. The Plymouth Anti-Slavery Society was started by Nathaniel Peabody Rogers in 1833. Rogers also helped start the New Hampshire Anti-Slavery Society the next year, and his house was known to be a stop-over for those riding the Underground Railroad to freedom in the north.
Howes B307. Sabin 4302.