Reproduction of an Engraved Portrait of Haitian President Fabre Nicolas Geffrard, Based on a Daguerreotype by an African-American Artist

[African-Americana Haiti Political Figures] Watts, J.W.; Grice Bros

Published by Likely Massachusetts, 1861

About this Item

An albumen photograph reproducing an engraving by Massachusetts-based engraver James W. Watts of Haitian president Fabre Nicolas Geffrard, based on a daguerreotype credited to the "Grice Bros." The latter were sons of Hezekiah Grice (1801 1863), an African-American abolitionist and civil rights activist. Born free in Calvert County, Maryland, Hezekiah Grice was involved in the Colored Conventions Movement and was a founding member of the Legal Rights Association. In the mid 1830s he moved to Port-au-Prince in hopes of receiving citizenship, which as an African-American he did not have in the United States, and became a confidant of President Faustin Soulouque.[1] Grice had eleven children, all of whom were born in Haiti; one son, Francis Grice, was a daguerreotypist and sculptor and is likely to have been one of the "Grice Brothers" responsible for the Geffrard daguerreotype.[2] The engraving of Geffrard based on the Grice image was used as the frontispiece for William Wells Brown s The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements (James Redpath, 1863). Unlike the frontispiece image, the one offered here does not have an identifying caption. [1] "Men We Have Known," The Elevator, August 16, 1867, 2. [2] Rodney B. Nelson, Francis Henry Grice s Daguerrean Views (Grant House Press, 2021). Image measuring 2 ¼ x 3 inches, on heavy cardstock measuring 2 ½ x 4 ¼ inches.

Seller Inventory # List2909

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Reproduction of an Engraved Portrait of Haitian President Fabre Nicolas Geffrard, Based on a Daguerreotype by an African-American Artist
• Publisher: Likely Massachusetts
• Publication Date: 1861
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • African Americana
  • Photographs
  • Latin America