SOJOURNER TRUTH "INSISTED UPON A LEGAL AND POLITICAL VOICE": VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF WILLIAM STONE'S MATTHAIS AND HIS IMPOSTURES, 1835, EXCEPTIONAL IN ORIGINAL CLOTH

(TRUTH, Sojourner) STONE, William. Matthais and His Impostures; Or, the Progress of Fanaticism. Illustrated in the Extraordinary Case of Robert Matthews, And Some of His Forerunners and Disciples. New-York: Harper & Brothers, 1835. Small thick octavo (4-1/4 by 6-1/4 inches), original green gilt-lettered linen-covered boards; pp. (1-3), 4-347 (1) (12). Housed in a custom clamshell box. $3800.

First edition of Stone's exceedingly rare exposé, unmasking a religiously-based community led by Robert Matthews, known as Matthais, containing the first meaningful insights into the life of Sojourner Truth, frequently cited herein as "Isabella, the black woman," with Truth soon winning a lawsuit against her "white former associates" in the Matthais commune, quite rare in publisher's original linen-covered boards.

Born enslaved in New York state in 1797, Isabella Bornefree (alt. Baumfree) became the slave of John Dumont in 1810 and was held there for 17 years. It was there that she married an enslaved man and had five children, with scholars noting her husband later was not present in her life. Around 1827 she experienced a profound conversion to Christianity and spent her last enslaved year with a Quaker couple. On moving to New York City in 1829, she "began to forge her own reputation as a gifted Methodist preacher and visionary" and became a household worker for Elijah Pierson. At that time she "met Robert Matthews… who called himself Matthias, and she converted to his views in 1832. With Pierson's support Matthias established a 'kingdom,' a sort of religious commune," near Sing-Sing. Isabella, who did not change her name to Sojourner Truth until 1843, was the only African American full-fledged member and labored as a domestic worker. When she joined the commune, which is strongly critiqued here in Matthais and His Impostures, "she was not many years out of a slavery." This could have affected her commitment to the commune in a belief "that brutality must be a natural component of her life… the synthetic family around Matthias resembled the one she had grown up with in over her 16 years [in slavery] with the Dumonts: abusive but familiar" (Painter, Sojourner Truth, 59-60). Scholars have also noted "Matthias might have appealed to Truth in part because he preached racial equality" (Humez, Reading the Narrative, 46-49).

After the commune was dissolved when Matthias was charged with murder, Truth was "accused by some of her white former associates of complicity" in it. She quickly took action and "won a slander suit… her legal victory in this case even brought her damages and court costs of $125" (Humez, 32-44). "American legal narratives of the 19th century tell us that slaves, free Blacks and women had no legal voice. Nevertheless Sojourner Truth, a Black woman and former slave… insisted upon a legal and political voice" (Accomando, Demanding a Voice, 61). Even more notably, perhaps, the Matthais suit was her second successful lawsuit. "In 1826, a year before she claimed her freedom, she took her master's family to court for selling her son Peter to planter relatives in Alabama, thereby contravening a New York law that forbade selling slaves into states where slavery would continue to be legal after its abolition in New York. She won, and her son was returned to her in 1828. Twice during her time in Washington, D.C. Truth took street-car conductors to court for refusing to let her rise in their cars, additionally charging one with assault and battery; in both cases she was victorious, actually getting one conductor dismissed" (Sánchez-Eppler, Review: Ain't I a Symbol?, 156). While Truth briefly discusses the Matthais community in her Narrative (1850), it has frustrated those who note "gaps and questions on which her Narrative is silent" (Humez, 9n). This very rare first edition, which contains references throughout to Truth as "Isabella, the black woman" or "the coloured woman," is viewed as the earliest substantial portrayal of Sojourner Truth's life. First edition, first printing: with no statement of edition or printings on title page or copyright page; six rear leaves of publisher's ads. Not in Blockson. Trace of bookseller ticket removal to rear blank.

Text fresh aside occasional soiling including leaves with early stain as if from a spill, trace of edge-wear to spine ends, a very good unrestored copy in publisher's original gilt-lettered cloth.