Colonists go gaga for teen poetry.
In 1770, Phillis Wheatley’s poem “On the Death of Mr. Whitefield” impressed a publisher so much that he printed it on broadsheets and sold them individually. Even more impressive? The 17-year-old Wheatley was both a woman and a slave, hardly the usual published author in colonial Massachusetts. But printer Isaiah Thomas—the founder of the American Antiquarian Society, no relation to the ill-fated former coach of the Knicks—was savvy enough to reserve the entire page for the ode. “Phillis’s poem, the fact that she was an African-American, really stirred the imagination,” says Hewes. “It brought her great fame.”
See it now! “In Pursuit of a Vision: Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society,” The Grolier Club, 47 E 60th St between Madison and Park Aves (212-838-6690, grolierclub.org). Mon–Sat 10am–5pm; free. Wed 12–Nov 17.
You might also like
NYC's best bookstores
Q&A with Copper historian
101 Things to do this fall
See more in Things to Do
Discover Time Out original video