Research Catalog

Title

Poems on various subjects, religious and moral / by Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England.

Author

Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784.

Publication

London : Printed for A. Bell, bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, MDCCLXXIII. [1773]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Wheatley, John, -1778.
• Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, Countess of, 1707-1791.
• Bell, Archibald
• Cox & Berry, bookseller.

Description

v, [4], 10-124, [4] pages, [1] leaf of plates : 1 portrait; 18 cm. (8vo)

Donor/Sponsor

Home to Harlem Project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Subjects

• Insertions (Provenance)
• Inscriptions (Provenance)
• American poetry > African American authors > 18th century
• African Americans > Poetry
• Religious poetry, American
• Black author
• Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784 > Portraits
• Slaves' writings, American > Massachusetts > Boston
• Authors' autographs (Provenance)
• Slaves > Massachusetts > Boston > Poetry

Genre/Form

• American poetry – African American authors – 18th century.
• Religious poetry, American.
• Slaves' writings, American – Massachusetts – Boston.
• Authors' autographs (Provenance)
• Inscriptions (Provenance)
• Insertions (Provenance)

Note

• "Entered at Stationers Hall."--verso of title page.
• Frontispiece portrait of Wheatley has imprint: Published according to act of Parliament, Septr. 1st, 1773 by Archd. Bell, bookseller no. 8 near the Saracens Head Aldgate.
• "Dedicated to the Right Honourable Countess of Huntingdon the following poems ... Phillis Wheatley, Boston, June 12, 1773."--page [3].
• "The following is a copy of a letter sent by the author's master to the publisher."--page [6], signed: John Wheatley; dated: Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.
• Publisher's advertisement, page [4] at end.
• This is the first of the two editions with this title and imprint described by Stoddard in entries 236-237. In this edition, the last line on p. 10 ends "surprize;". Copies of this edition exhibit numerous variants; see Stoddard.
• Signatures: [A]⁴ B-Q⁴.
• Not in Evans.

Indexed In (note)

• English short title catalogue,
• Library Company of Philadelphia. Afro-Americana, 1553-1906 (2nd ed.),
• Sabin, J. Dictionary of books relating to America from its discovery to the present time,
• Stoddard, R.E. Bibliographical description of books and pamphlets of American verse printed from 1610 through 1820,
• Wegelin, O. Early American poetry,

Additional Formats (note)

• Available as part of The Digital Schomburg, a project providing electronic access to collections on the African Diaspora and Africa from The New York Public Library.

Source (note)

• from Arthur A. Schomburg;

Provenance (note)

• inscribed by author: in ink on verso of title page "Phillis Wheatley." ; inscribed: in ink on page [9] "J.E. Bruce. Feby. 7 1900."
• is part of the original collection purchased from Arthur A. Schomburg in 1926.

Contents

To Maecenas -- On virtue -- To the University of Cambridge, in New-England -- To the King's Most Excellent Majesty -- On being brought from Africa -- On the Rev. Dr. Sewell -- On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield -- On the death of a young lady of five years of age -- On the death of a young gentleman -- To a lady on the death of her husband -- Goliath of Gath -- Thoughts on the works of Providence -- To a lady on the death of three relations -- To a clergyman on the death of his lady -- An hymn to the morning -- An hymn to the evening -- On Isaiah lxiii 1-8 -- On recollection -- On imagination -- A funeral poem on the death of an infant aged twelve months -- To Captain H.D. of the 65th Regiment -- To the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth -- Ode to Neptune -- To a lady on her coming to North America with her son, for the recovery of her health -- To a lady on her remarkable preservation in a hurricane in North Carolina -- To a lady and her children on the death of her son, and their brother -- To a gentleman and a lady on the death of the lady's brother and sister, and a child of the name of Avis, aged one year -- On the death of Dr. Samuel Marshall -- To a gentleman on his voyage to Great-Britain, for the recovery of his health -- To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on reading his sermons on daily devotion, in which that duty is recommended and assisted -- On the death of J.C. an infant -- An hymn to humanity -- To the Hon. T.H. Esq., on the death of his daughter -- Niobe in distress for her children slain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, book VI, and from a view of the painting of Mr. Richard Wilson -- To S.M. a young African painter, on seeing his works -- To His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the death of his lady -- A farewel [sic] to America -- A rebus by I.B. -- An answer to ditto, by Phillis Wheatley.

Call Number

Sc Rare 811-W (Wheatley, P. Poems on various subjects, 1773)

OCLC

701959533

Author

Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784.

Title

Poems on various subjects, religious and moral / by Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England.

Imprint

London : Printed for A. Bell, bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, MDCCLXXIII. [1773]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Indexed In:

English short title catalogue, T153734

Library Company of Philadelphia. Afro-Americana, 1553-1906 (2nd ed.), Suppl. 2485

Sabin, J. Dictionary of books relating to America from its discovery to the present time, 103136

Stoddard, R.E. Bibliographical description of books and pamphlets of American verse printed from 1610 through 1820, 236

Wegelin, O. Early American poetry, 434

Additional Formats

Available as part of The Digital Schomburg, a project providing electronic access to collections on the African Diaspora and Africa from The New York Public Library.

Provenance

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (copy 1) (accession no. C488593) inscribed by author: in ink on verso of title page "Phillis Wheatley." ; inscribed: in ink on page [9] "J.E. Bruce. Feby. 7 1900."

Local Note

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (copy 1) imperfect; lacking frontispiece portrait.

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (copy 1) has two images clipped and pasted to endleaf facing title page: "Oliver Cromwell's house, on Palace Green, Ely ...", and an image of a teacher and a student ; a third image of a woman in a white dress and black shawl is bound in at the end of the volume. The relation of these images to the provenance of the item is not clear.

Provenance

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (copy 2) (accession no. B547525) is part of the original collection purchased from Arthur A. Schomburg in 1926.

Local Note

Researchers are restricted to the microform copy in: Sc Micro R-1852.

Source

Purchase; from Arthur A. Schomburg; 1926. Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (Wheatley, P. Poems on various subjects, 1773) (copy 2), Schomburg Center, Manuscripts, Archives & Rare Books.

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Plain text PDF available via the African American Women Writers of the 19th Century Project

Local Subject

Black author.

Added Author

Wheatley, John, -1778.

Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, Countess of, 1707-1791.

Bell, Archibald, publisher.

Cox & Berry, bookseller.

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (Wheatley, P. Poems on various subjects, 1773) (copy 1) Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784, inscriber.

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (Wheatley, P. Poems on various subjects, 1773) (copy 1) Bruce, John Edward, 1856-1924, former owner, inscriber.

Copy in Sc Rare 811-W (Wheatley, P. Poems on various subjects, 1773) (copy 2) Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938, former owner.

Added Title

Home to Harlem Project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Research Call Number

Sc Rare 811-W (Wheatley, P. Poems on various subjects, 1773)