[Abolition]: [Elijah Lovejoy]:

[Photographic Collage Memorializing the Life and Death of Elijah Lovejoy, the First Martyr to the Abolitionist Cause].

[N.p., probably either Alton, Chicago, Springfield, or St. Louis]: 1897. Photographic montage comprised of five photographic vignettes with reproduced manuscript captions, 7 x 9.25 inches on a slightly large cardboard mount. Minor dust-soiling, small chip to lower left corner of mount not affecting image, some staining and browning on verso. Very good. Item #5696

A rare photographic collage memorializing the life and death of Rev. Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1802-1837), a minister, newspaper editor, and abolitionist who is generally considered the first abolitionist killed in the struggle against slavery in the 19th century. Lovejoy, as editor of the Observer, an anti-slavery journal, moved his press from St. Louis to Alton, Illinois in July 1836 due to repeated threats. His experiences in Alton were just as injurious. His office was attacked three times in the following year, especially after he called Illinois' first abolitionist convention in Alton in 1837. Less than two weeks after this first antislavery convention, which established the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society, Lovejoy was setting up his press when his office was attacked by a proslavery mob which sparked a riot. During what appeared to be a quiet moment after withdrawal by the mob, Lovejoy opened the door to his office and was shot multiple times.

Lovejoy's friend and fellow abolitionist Edward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe) eulogized him the next year in Narrative of Riots at Alton: in Connection with the Death of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, in which Beecher described Lovejoy as “the first martyr in America to the great principles of the freedom of speech and of the press.” Much later, in May 1897, the town of Alton erected a memorial to Reverend Lovejoy, which is the impetus for the present collage. The montage consists of five photographic vignettes featuring Reverend Lovejoy's residence, "in which his wife lay sick, on the night of his murder, Nov. 7, 1837;" the building where he was murdered, which housed his press office; his grave, captioned "Here Rests Lovejoy;" a reproduction of an engraving of the night of "Lovejoy's Death Scene;" and the 1897 monument erected in his honor. The caption for the latter includes a quote of the last words of Reverend Lovejoy: "I have sworn everlasting opposition to slavery. And by the help of God I will never turn back." He is described at the end of this quote as "The first martyr for the cause of freedom." Presumably, this montage was issued as a souvenir on the occasion of the 1897 dedication of the Alton monument to his death, a monument which still stands proudly today.

Price: $650