1898 Life of Underground Railroad “Conductor,” Laura Haviland with Underground Railroad Association Provenance.

A wonderful copy of an already desirable book, being inscribed, “A Merry Christmas to Louisa Mendenhall From Your Loving Children, Parris & Sally. 1898.” Almost certainly a relative of Isaac and Dinah Mendenhall, two of the most significant conductors of the Underground Railroad. They were responsible for shuttling hundreds of slaves to safety in their false-bottom wagon, were friends of Harriet Tubman, etc.,

The publisher, S. B. Shaw was an influential mid-western Methodist and Holiness publisher and evangelist operating out of Grand Rapids, and then later, Chicago. He published an important history of Revivals in Wales, a Work on the Final Scenes of Christians and Non- Christians, and an oft-reprinted work on miraculous answers to prayer throughout history.

Haviland, Laura S. A Woman’s Life Work: Including Thirty Years’ Service on the Underground Railroad and in the War. Fifth Edition. Grand Rapids, Mich. S. B. Shaw. 1881.

The present work is his rarest imprint. Shaw definitely had a bum source for paper and a poor binder. His publications are notoriously badly preserved in terms of structure. This one actually fared much better in this regard. Overall good – to fair. Textually nicely preserved, but the cloth damp-stained with fading and discoloration attended by some minor bleeding to prelims and rears.