(ABOLITION.) Bound volume of "The Liberator" spanning the five Civil War years. 247 (of 264) issues in one volume. Folio, 24 x 17½ inches, modern buckram, minor wear (no library markings); many of the early issues fragile with closed tears to fore-edge, post-April 1862 issues generally stable with minimal wear, a few minor repairs, intermittent foxing, minimal dampstaining, many with mailing folds; variety of subscriber names written above mastheads.
Boston, 4 January 1861 to 29 December 1865

The Liberator was among America's leading voices for the immediate abolition of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison launched the weekly newspaper in 1831 and continued as its publisher through its final issue at the end of 1865. Every issue contains historically significant content relating to the Civil War, emancipation, and more.

Included in this volume are Lincoln's inaugural address (8 March 1861); the start of fighting at Fort Sumter (19 April 1861); the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (26 September 1862); the official Emancipation Proclamation (2 January 1863); departure of the 54th Massachusetts for the front (5 June 1863); the New York Draft Riots (24 July 1863); the Battle of Fort Wagner (31 July 1863); the Gettysburg Address (27 November 1863); the Fort Pillow Massacre (22 April 1864); Sojourner Truth's letter describing her meeting with Lincoln (23 December 1864); the fall of Richmond (7 and 14 April 1865); the assassination of Lincoln (two black-bordered pages, 21 April 1865); and the farewell issue dated 29 December 29 1865 (the unrevised version, without William Nell's "Farewell to the Liberator" on the final page).

This nearly complete set was made up from issues gathered from at least 10 different subscribers, with their names written in above the mastheads of many issues. Most notable among the subscribers are George Whittemore Stacy of Massachusetts (1809-1892), whose name appears on 36 issues; Stephen Symonds Foster (1809-1881) of New Hampshire, an Underground Railroad participant who wrote the controversial book Brotherhood of Thieves (17 issues); and Anne Warren Weston (1812-1890) of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (6 issues). 3 issues belonged to an "R. Adams," quite possibly Robert Adams (1816-1900), the abolitionist bookseller and Underground Railroad participant in Fall River, MA who befriended the newly liberated Frederick Douglass.