Philadelphia: H. D. Shaiffer, (1902). SIGNED hardcover first edition - Interesting association copy of this novel - INSCRIBED on the front endpaper "Presented to Ella Wheeler Wilcox with Compliments of H.D. Shaiffer, Publisher, 1614 Diamond St, Phila PA" Although this purports to be a factual account, it is a rather strange novel dedicated to "all those gentlemen of the Afro-American race who have labored diligently for the elevation of their brethren." Gilbert straddles two worlds: as the son of a free mother, he was also freeborn, but his father was a slave and it was a slave owner who took him in. During the War Between the States he assisted both the Federal and Confederate soldiers at various times, and was treated as a friend by almost all whom he encountered both black and white. For a while after the war, he became a prosperous businessman, until he was fleeced by unscrupulous white men. Then destitute, he encountered a man whose life he had saved many years ago, and who wrote this book as a way to raise money for his needs. It ends with the comment that he "ceaselessly prays that a sympathetic public may pity him in his unfortunate old age to the extent of the price of a copy of this work." It is probable that the publisher in this case is also the author: neither produced another book, and the fact that the publisher is known to have inscribed many copies (while I have never encountered a copy signed by the author) tends to indicate that he was more involved in it than simply as "publisher" Illustrated with six glossy plates. 309 pp.