When British ships laden with tea sailed into the Port of Boston in 1773, soon to be raided during the Boston Tea Party, they also carried freshly printed copies of a book of poems by an enslaved Boston woman, Phillis Wheatley. She published her first poem in a newspaper at age fourteen, and by 1772 had gathered 28 poems. Unable to find a publisher in the American Colonies, she was eventually directed to Archibald Bell, London’s foremost bookseller and printer. In 1773, Phillis travelled to London to oversee the publication of this book. Soon after her return to Boston in the fall of 1773, the Wheatley family freed her from slavery.
This special exhibition at the Folger features rare books from the collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose that present literary, cultural, and historical high points.
