Anti-Slavery Bazaar

Boston: Anti-Slavery Bazaar, 1849. Small broadside measuring 7 ¾ x 4 ½ inches printed on green wove paper. Some creases and a small tear at margin, near fine. Near Fine. The American Anti-Slavery Society hosted annual bazaars, which served as fundraisers, with money going to supporting the National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper. Many women were involved with the event, and sold abolitionist items. Offered here is one such piece of ephemera from the 1849 fair, a poem written by an unknown author with the pen name “M.” The poem was featured in the poetry section of The Liberator (January 26, 1849, Vol. XIX. No. 4.) with the description “The two following (truncated) poetical effusions were written for the Anti-Slavery Bazaar, In Faneuil Hall, by friends of freedom in the old world.”
It reads:

Ye friends of liberty, all hail!
May your endeavours never fail
In freedom’s sacred cause!
May blessings e’er attend your course,
In striving to uproot all force,
And stern oppression’s laws!
Yours is a noble task, my friends!
And God his gracious favor lends
To speed ye on your way,
Until you reach the blessed goal,
When ev’ry dark, benighted soul,
Shall hail bright freedom’s ray.
Oh! may he speed the time when all
Their fellow-men shall brethren call,
And the deep wrong remove,
When the dark chains of slavery,
Give place to sacred liberty,
And bonds of holy love!
Oh! it were happiness to bind
In such bright chains all human kind,
And set each captive free;
For when oppressions all shall cease,
And this fair world be fill’d with peace,
Like Heav’n on earth ‘twill be!

A very nice example of the anti-slavery movement during this period. Uncommon, with one copy appearing at auction, and none listed in OCLC. (Inventory #: List1801)