12mo. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Wheatley. (Entire title-page in supplied in facsimile, frontispiece foremargin renewed with portions in facsimile, a few other leaves remargined with some letters in facsimile). Original boards (modern rebacking, some scuffing and wear). Provenance: Inscription and various annotations (some dated 1792); Windsor Library Association (bookplate).

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST BOOK OF POETRY WRITTEN BY A BLACK AMERICAN.  Wheatley, who was likely born in West Africa, was enslaved as a child and was sold to John and Susannah Wheatley of Boston in 1761.  John Wheatley encouraged her intellect and hired her a tutor.  On a trip to England in 1773, she was taken into the circle of the Countess of Huntington and arrangements were made for the publication of her Poems. Brawley 31; Sabin 10316; Wegelin 432.