author
John Theophilus Kramer
A little-known 19th-century writer, this author is remembered for a stark antislavery work that confronts the cruelty of slave auctions in the United States. His surviving public record is very slim, which gives the book an added sense of historical rarity.
1 Audiobook
The slave-auction
by John Theophilus Kramer
About the author
Very little biographical information about this author could be confirmed from reliable public sources consulted here. He is chiefly known as the author of The slave-auction, a work published in Boston in 1859.
Library of Congress records list him as the author of that book, and modern catalog and ebook records show that the work has continued to circulate through reprints and digital editions. The book is remembered for its direct focus on the violence and dehumanization of the slave trade, especially the auction block.
Because so little dependable background information was available, it is safest to let the surviving work speak for him. What remains clear is that his name is linked to an antislavery text from the years just before the American Civil War.