On 3 March 2011 the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library announced that it recently purchased a copy of David Walker’s anti-slavery “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World” from a New Jersey rare-book dealer for $95,000. Readers of Out of the Box will remember that last month Craig Moore, State Records Appraisal Archivist, wrote a post on Walker’s “Appeal”. Not only does the Library of Virginia have a copy of the “Appeal”, we also have the only known extant document written in the hand of David Walker. See Craig’s post to view the letter and read the transcription. The Library’s copy of Walker’s “Appeal” has been microfilmed and is available to researchers in the Library’s West Reading Room (Miscellaneous Reel 5391) and through interlibrary loan.
Title page for David Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World
Virginia General Assembly, House of Delegates, Speaker Executive Communication, 7 January 1830, Accession 36912, Miscellaneous Reel 5391
-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist
