Solomon Northup (born c. 1807–1808; died c. 1864) was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir Twelve Years a Slave. A free-born African American from New York, Northup was a farmer, professional violinist, and landowner in Washington County, New York. In 1841, he was offered a traveling musician's job and went to Washington, D.C. (where slavery was legal); there he was drugged and kidnapped into slavery. He was shipped to New Orleans, purchased by a planter, and held as a slave for 12 years in the Red River region of Louisiana, mostly in Avoyelles Parish. He remained a slave until he met Samuel Bass, a Canadian working on his plantation who helped get word to New York, where state law provided aid to free New York citizens who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. His family and friends enlisted the aid of the Governor of New York, Washington Hunt, and Northup regained his freedom on January 3, 1853. Rare first edition book: Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River in Louisiana (written by David Wilson). First edition, fourth printing (marked 'Thirteenth Thousand' to top of title page). Auburn, New York: Derby & Miller, 1853, 5.5 x 7.75, 336 pages. Hardcover in publisher’s original brown cloth, with title stamped in gilt on spine and covers stamped in blind; yellow pastedowns to inner front and rear covers; opening publisher’s 'subscription' section; and an engraved frontispiece of Solomon Northup with facsimile signature. Book condition: G+/None, with edgewear (heaviest to corners and spine ends), light staining to textblock, and a contemporary ownership inscription to a free end page; the binding is tight and joints are strong.
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