1835 'A Narrative of the Life & Adventures of Venture' Book
GUEST: My mother had an aunt who had a husband who had a whole collection of naval books. Medical books, he was a physician and a naval officer. When my aunt died, she got a bunch of his books. This pamphlet was tucked into a book about a World War I soldier. It is the life story, as dictated, by Venture Smith, and he was a slave. One of his owners, the third owner, told him he could buy his way to freedom. And he bought his way to freedom.
APPRAISER: This is one of the earliest narratives written by an enslaved person that was ever done in the United States. Now this 1835 edition is a second edition. The first was done in Connecticut in 1798. This pamphlet was published by his descendants. Venture Smith originally lived in West Africa. He was six years old, there was a war, his tribe was invaded. They captured him, took him, put him on a slave ship. The slave ship stopped in the Caribbean. Most of the people enslaved were sold. One of the people on the boat bought him. They bought him for some rum and cloth. Not only did they take his freedom, they took his name, also. When he was a young child in Africa, his name was Broteer Furro. And then his name Venture came because the person who bought him says, "This is a business venture." That's where his first name came from.
GUEST: Hm. Hm.
APPRAISER: Later in life, his last person who owned him was Smith, and that's where he took the name Smith from. And this narrative tells about his life being enslaved. He was brought to New England. You think about slavery, and normally, you think of the South. He went through two owners. He married, he had children, they got separated. The third owner, who was in Connecticut, allowed him-- and the fact that you even have to say, "allowed him"--to work and earn money. And eventually he earned enough money that he was able to buy his freedom. Then he was able to buy his wife and his children's freedom. He actually became fairly successful. He had 130 acres of land in Connecticut.
GUEST: Mm. Yeah.
APPRAISER: He had three houses. At the very last paragraph, he is telling how he was cheated, how people took advantage of him, how he won and lost land. But he basically said he came out of it well. And then there's a sentence in there, and he said, "My freedom is a privilege which nothing else can equal." Have you ever done anything about value?
GUEST: I spoke with a collector, and he said, about $1,000.
APPRAISER: There are a few known copies in libraries and institutions. When I looked up sales records, the first edition, the 1798 edition, there was one copy that was sold in the last hundred years.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: I looked up the 1835 copy, and there were no copies sold in the last hundred years. On a retail level, this pamphlet is probably $15,000 to $20,000.
GUEST: Wow. Cool. He was a very eloquent man.
$15,000 - $20,000 Retail
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Read "A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture Smith"
It's of the earliest narratives written by an enslaved person ever published in the United States.
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