24mo (4 x 5 1/2 in.), 128pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece engraving of the author (interior toned, occasional spotting). Original binding comprised of marbled paper-covered boards and green cloth spine, lacking spine label (edge and corner wear). Second Edition.

Autobiography of Elleanor Eldridge, a free Black woman of mixed race, born in Rhode Island, the daughter of a Native American woman and an enslaved African who won his freedom by fighting in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

Elleanor Eldridge earned a living doing housework. She inherited the industry of her family, eventually purchasing her own land and building a house on the property. Then, through a series of circumstances, some unavoidable (contracting a serious illness) and some the result of outright swindle, she nearly lost the house and land, but was "allowed" to buy it back at a price that kept increasing. Friends helped Eldridge publish this narrative, copies of which she sold by travelling from town to town, to pay the legal costs of recovering the property.