A very scarce novelized version of what appears to be grounded in history, with the main white character being Abijah Green. The account was published immediately after the end of the Civil War and gives a first hand account of the newly freed slaves' first Christmas in the north.
The novel notably contains an extensive section in which the main black protagonist attempts to explain to her daughter how the word n***er is not a synonym for other words describing the black race. To my knowledge, one of the first attempts to discourse on the uniquely negative character of the "N" word.
Contraband Christmas by T. R. With Illustrations by Hoppin. Boston. E. P. Dutton and Company. 1865. 104pp.
A good + copy, bound in cloth with a small loss at the base of the spine and a stain below the central panel on the front board. It has the personal gift inscription to Albert Mann from Christmas of 1867 along with some pencil inscriptions of Albert B. Mann [probably juvenilia]. Tissue guard over frontis and title a bit foxed, occasional spots to text. p.33,34 has a long vertical tear that intrudes into the text.
