Page 297 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

552 ● (TRAVEL.) HARRIS, J. DENNIS. A Summer on the Borders of the
Caribbean Sea. 179 pages. 8vo, original gilt and blind-stamped black cloth; very slight
wear to the crown of the spine. New York: Burdick, 1860 [1,500/2,500]
THE RARE FIRST EDITION OF THIS AFRICAN AMERICAN’S VISIT TO THE CARIBBEAN,
JUST PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR. Harris’s account includes descriptions of the Dominican
Republic, Turks and Caico islands as well as portions of British Honduras. The author’s pur-
pose, like that of Martin Delany and Robert Campbell’s exploration of the Niger Valley, was
to search out suitable terrain for African American settlement. By the late 1850’s, there were
many intellectuals in the black community that felt that the American Negro while he might
eventually gain his freedom, and even citizenship would never have true social equality. In
many respects they were correct. It took nearly a century to gain passage of the Civil Rights
Acts of the 1960’s.
553 ● (TRAVEL.) PETERSON, REVEREND DANIEL H. The Looking Glass:
Being a True Report and Narrative of the Life, Travels and Labors of the
Reverend Daniel H. Peterson, a Colored Clergyman, Embracing a Period of
Time from the Year 1912 to 1854, and Including His Visit to Western Africa.
Frontispiece and seven additional engraved plates. Tall 12mo, original gilt-pictorial cloth,
with a dove holding an olive branch and the motto “A Land of Rest, Peace and Unity. A
Government of Wisdom and Equality.” An exceptional copy.
New York: Wright, 1854 [1,500/2,500]
PETERSON’S TRAVELS TOOK HIM FOR THE MOST PART THROUGH LIBERIA AND PARTS
OF GAMBIA. H IS NARRATIVE HAS BEEN REFERRED TO AS THE FIRST VISIT TO WEST
AFRICA BY AN AFRICAN AMERICAN.
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