A Narrative of the Life of Rev. Noah Davis, A Colored Man. Written by Himself, At the Age of Fifty-Four

Item Details

Baltimore, 1866, Cloth

A Narrative Of The Life Of Rev. Noah Davis, A Colored Man. Written By Himself, At The Age Of Fifty-Four. Printed Solely For The Author's Benefit.

Originally published 1859 in Baltimore, this scarce "New Edition, with a Supplementary Chapter beginning on page 83, showing how the members of the Saratoga Street African Baptist Church were deprived of their Chapel Building" is dated July 26, 1866. 12mo. 100 pp. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Rev. Davis different than the earlier 1859 edition and an additional plate of The Saratoga Street African Baptist Chapel. Brown cloth lettered in gilt. Sabin 18870.

The book was published to raise money to free his last two children from slavery and to support his church in Baltimore. It details his life from birth in slavery in Virginia, through his struggles for freedom, his religious conversion and work as a minister, to his ultimately successful efforts to purchase freedom for most of his children. The narrative offers insights into the experiences of slavery, the challenges of life during that period, and the themes of faith, resilience, and the fight for racial equality in pre-Civil War America. The author was the pastor of the Saratoga Street African Baptist Church in Baltimore.

Measures approximately 4 x 6 1/8 inches (12mo). Good with some loss on the spine and small loss on the bottom of one leaf (pp. 93 - seen in 7th photo). Approximately 1 1/2 x 3 inch loss to the bottom of the back flyleaf page (seen in 9th photo). USPS Priority shipping & signature tracking paid.