Spotted and fragile, but very rare – the sheet music for a Farewell Song of Frederick Douglass… sold at Swann Auction Galleries for $30,000 (£21,430).
Composed to mark the departure from these shores after two years of self-imposed exile in Ireland and England, a Farewell Song of Frederick Douglass, on Quitting England for America – the Land of his Birth was published in London in 1847.
Featuring a portrait by a British artist, William Behnes, of the young Douglass, the slave who became a leading abolitionist, social reformer, writer and statesman, it is a considerable rarity. In a March 29 sale of African-Americana held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium), it made $30,000 (£21,430).