(ABOLITION) Hutchinson, John Wallace; Frederick Douglass (introd). Story of the Hutchinsons (Tribe of Jesse). Vols I & II (complete). Boston: Lee and Shephard 1896. Original Cloth. First Edition. Two octavo volumes. Original blue cloth; gilt titles; xviii+495; vii+416pp; illus. Frontispiece; portraits, halftone plates. A nicely preserved set, just touched at spine ends and corners; thin crack to rear hinge v.II; clipped catalogue entry tipped onto front endpaper of v.1; crayon price inside rear cover. Still a VG or better example of a scarce and important work. A detailed account of the musical and social accomplishments of this popular 19th-c. singing troupe, written by its last surviving member. The peripatetic Hutchinson Family, consisting of a rotating cast of siblings but most commonly of the three brothers Judson, John, and Asa and sister Abby, achieved unprecedented popularity in the years before the Civil War, especially among audiences who shared the family's progressive leanings. Quoting from the Grove Dictionary article: "...their political and social leanings, which included communitarianism and women's rights, eventually alienated more conservative audiences. Nevertheless, their espousal of radical ideas established a pattern in popular music that continued through the 20th century." The Hutchinsons were especially active in Abolitionist circles, and among their most popular performance pieces were re-workings of African-American hymns and slave songs. Frederick Douglass supplies a substantial, laudatory, and quite personal introduction to the present work, recalling an afternoon spent in the Hutchinsons' mansion "as one of the most sublime and glorious hours I ever experienced." 8vo. Very Good Plus
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