Harriet the Moses of her People

New York: J. J. Little & Co, 1901. Bradford's revised biography of Harriet Tubman, the final edition. 171pp. 12mo. Publisher's green cloth gilt. Very good. Bradford's revised biography of Harriet Tubman, the final edition. 171pp. 12mo. Bradford's biography of Tubman was first published in Auburn in 1869. "Tubman was often called the most popular Underground Railroad Conductor. John Brown so admired Harriet's character and prowess that he nicknamed her 'General Tubman.' The book vividly describes her life as a slave and her contributions to the Underground Railroad ... She reportedly guided 300 slaves to freedom including her own parents. A book with (truncated) a daring heroine and adventures aplenty, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman was intended for a popular market and found it. Within a very short time the small book became a classic. Sarah Bradford's book made Harriet Tubman a legendary figure that endures to this day" (Blockson).

Bradford reveals the genesis of this revised edition in the preface to the 1886 edition: "The first edition of this little story was published through the liberality of Gerritt Smith, Wendell Philipps, and prominent men in Auburn ... But that book has long been out of print, and the facts stated there are unknown to the preent generation. There have, I am told, often been calls for the book, which could not be answered, adn I have been urged by many friends as well as by Harriet herself, to prepare another edition. For another necessity has arisen and she needs help again not for herself, but for certain helpless ones of her people." Subsequent editions of this revised edition were published in 1897 and 1901 (the present). Blockson 101, no. 40 (note); Library Company Afro-Americana 1466 (1886 edition); Blockson 2981 (Inventory #: 372274)