Facts for the People. Vol. I, no.3 [ca. May-June,1837]

Philadelphia: Anti-slavery Society of the City and County of Philadelphia; printed by Merrihew & Gunn, 1837. Single quarto issue (29cm x 23cm; ca. 11-1/2" x 9-1/4"). Bifolium (4pp), pages numbered [9]-12. Issued monthly. Old horizontal fold at center (as issued?); small loss at upper margin (away from printed area), brief separations at folds, without loss to text; complete and Good.

Single issue of this very scarce, presumably short-lived abolitionist newspaper, published by Benjamin S. Jones under the auspices of the Anti-slavery Society of the City & County of Philadelphia. This copy with dated (1864) pencil ownership markings of "J.E. Jones," this possibly being the publisher's spouse, the reformer, abolitionist, and suffragist Jane Elizabeth Jones (née Hitchcock; 1816-1896). The paper's contents are devoted almost entirely to exposure of the injustices of the southern slave system, with excerpts from Southern papers quoted and sharply rebuked by Jones' editorial comments. This issue also includes a brief notice of the progress of the recently-founded city of Houston, Texas, which now contained "...about 3000 people, two hundred buildings, four hotels, thirteen retail stores, and one wholesale establishment..." The extracts quoted in this issue are generally dated from March, April, and May of 1837, leading us to suggest a May-June date for this issue.

It is unclear how many issues of Facts for the People appeared. The only recorded example for a physical copy is at AAS, which holds two unspecified issues, with the annotation "sparse holdings." Not in LCP Afro-Americana. Not in Blockson.