The Massachusetts Magazine. Or, Monthly Museum of Knowledge and Rational Entertainment. Vol. III, No. X.
Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, October, 1791. [2],[595]-642,647-656pp. Lacking two leaves of text. Disbound. Moderate foxing, first text leaf chipped along fore-edge, costing a few letters, with an old repaired tear just into the text. Fair. Item #5490
A significant issue of The Massachusetts Magazine, with two items of African American interest. The first is a purported "Letter from Ignatius Sancho" which begins on page 610 and concludes two pages later. The second and most important is a notice printed under Maryland in "The Gazette" section on page 655: "Messrs. Goddard and Angell, have presented to the Maryland society for the abolition of slavery, an almanack for the year 1792, the astronomical parts whereof are calculated by Benjamin Baniker [sic, Banneker], a negro. The calculations are attested to be correct; and the society has agreed to to patronize the sale." The Sancho letter seems intended as a humorous spoof, but the notice of Banneker's almanac is genuine and concerns the publication of the first of his series of almanacs that are now highly sought-after. Any mention of Banneker in the printed historical record is also desirable. A wounded but notable issue of this important early American periodical.
Price: $650