---
product_id: 1486457
title: "Twelve Years a Slave"
price: "125 zł"
currency: PLN
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.pl/products/1486457-twelve-years-a-slave
store_origin: PL
region: Poland
---

# 12 years of true history 4.5/5 star acclaim Classic narrative depth Twelve Years a Slave

**Price:** 125 zł
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Own the story that shaped history — don’t miss out on this timeless testament!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Twelve Years a Slave
- **How much does it cost?** 125 zł with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pl](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/1486457-twelve-years-a-slave)

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- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Enduring Bestseller:** Ranked top #66 in Black & African American Biographies, a must-have for culturally conscious readers.
- • **Powerful Narrative Voice:** Written with straightforward honesty, making complex history accessible and compelling.
- • **Unfiltered Historical Truth:** Experience Solomon Northup’s raw, firsthand account of slavery without Hollywood gloss.
- • **Emotional & Intellectual Impact:** A profound story that challenges perspectives on freedom, faith, and human resilience.
- • **Collector’s Quality Used Edition:** Good condition pre-owned book—own a piece of history with sustainable style.

## Overview

Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup’s compelling autobiographical account of his kidnapping and 12-year enslavement in the 19th century American South. This used book in good condition offers an unembellished, powerful narrative that ranks among the top biographies in Black & African American literature, praised for its historical accuracy and emotional depth.

## Description

Used Book in Good Condition

Review: Classic Book Review 12 Years A Slave - In 1841, Solomon Northup was a free black man living in upstate New York, with his wife and three kids. His freedom ended abruptly one day, when two men named Brown and Hamilton tricked Solomon with a promise of a job in the circus. Brown and Hamilton were just looking to take advantage of the Fugitive slave laws in the U.S. at the time, and looking to collect a quick dollar by selling Solomon back into bondage. Solomon was first kept in a holding pen in Washington D.C., and held by a man named James Burch, who claimed that Solomon was his slave, which of course he was not. It is in the slave pen where he meets Eliza, once a mistress to her master with kids from him and had some measure of freedom but she was sold to another master and now resided in the slave pen. Eliza was living the life of a slave, and suffering the emotional devastation from that fact, by constantly weeping. Solomon was transported first to Virginia and then to New Orleans, where he was bought by William Ford, a relatively kind owner who also bought Eliza, but could not afford Eliza’s children, and therefor added to her constant state of melancholy. Ford was in debt so he eventually sold Solomon to a cruel master named Tibbeats who worked Solomon day and night whipped him regularly, and nearly hung him to death, if not for the actions of an overseer named Chaplin, and a 400 dollar mortgage put on Solomon by Ford, Solomon, now called Platt, would have been a dead man that day. After more severe treatment at the hands of Tibbeats, Solomon ran away from Tibbeats and back to Ford, but the happiness Solomon felt with Ford was not meant to last. Solomon was soon no longer the property of Tibbeats or Ford, he was sold to another slaveholder in Louisiana named Edwin Epps, who seemed to share the sadism of Tibbeats, and none of the small kindnesses of Ford, when Epps was drunk he was even more cruel to his slaves. Epps had a favorite slave, named Patsey from Guinea, she could pick cotton better than Solomon and better than any other slave, male or female for that matter, but the unwanted intentions of Epps and the unwavering jealousy of Mrs. Epps made Patsey’s life intolerable. She tried to bribe Solomon to kill her, but he did not. Solomon had resolved to gain his freedom from the brutal and sadistic Epps one way or another. He wrote a letter to his friends in the North and asked a man named Armsby to deliver it. Armsby had come to Epps plantation looking for an overseer’s job. He spent several days with Epps, and Solomon somehow trusted him with his freedom, but Armsby betrayed him and told Epps about the letter In 1852 Solomon wrote another letter and asked a carpenter’s assistant named Bass to deliver it to his friends in New York State. Bass was Canadian, and vocally anti-slavery, but would he deliver Solomon’s letter, and secure his freedom? There are not enough glowing adjectives to describe this book. If you care about history, this is a must read for you. This is real history, written contemporaneously after the events of Solomon Northup’s kidnapping, and subsequent life as a slave. There is no embellishment here, there doesn’t need to be. It is just one man’s story, his harrowing experience with the peculiar institution of slavery. Solomon is first kept in a slave pen in Washington D.C. and the irony of the fact that he is being held in bondage, while just a few feet away leaders speak of freedom, that irony is not lost on Solomon. He speaks so eloquently and powerfully about freedom, real freedom, from the perspective of a man who has just had his every freedom taken from him. Today, in the atmosphere of political hyperbole that we live in, many politicians and people speak of their ‘freedoms’ being taken away by this law or that. If they can still protest the fact that laws are impinging on their rights, they haven’t lost any freedom at all. Solomon’s relationship with God is an integral part of his story. Most people in his position would be bitter and angry, but he steadfastly believed that God would one day deliver him. I find Solomon’s faith remarkable in the face of what he had to deal with every day for 12 years. Moreover, Solomon described William Ford as a ‘good Christian.’ I personally don’t think anyone who owned people as property is a good Christian, but Solomon Northrup did, and that makes him a good Christian. I implore you to read this book, it is not an easy book to read, reading about man’s inhumanity to other men in such stark terms, but it is well worth the effort.
Review: Good Narrative - I read this prior to seeing the movie because I wanted to see what the story really was without Hollywood embellishment. This had no embellishment as far as I could tell and I could really get in touch with what this man went through. It read like a personal biography told by your grandfather. I could imaging Solomon Northup sitting in a room with a group of people just telling his tale while someone recorded it. It seemed very genuine. Because of it's matter of fact voice, I was able to read the story with a detached emotion. While I got interested in the characters and their stories, I was not overwhelmed with the emotion that I'm sure I will be when I see the movie and hear it with personal feelings from the characters along with all the cinematic glitz.. I do not mean to take away from what this man went through, as I am very certain it was extremely emotional and critical to the development of the rest of his life, but his straight fowardness with the facts just made the terrible truth of this time in American history easier to read for me. I like to listen to narratives as the details of peoples lives often interest me. But, they can become mundane sometimes. Since this is a situation that I have no first hand knowledge or experience with, it fascinated me from beginning to end. The only part that seemed to drag to me was the full chapters on how to plant, cultivate,and harvest cotton and sugar cane. While very important for explaining the everyday life that Mr Northrup lived during these years, it was very difficult to read because I have no knowledge or interest in anything agricultural. I would recommend this as a great narrative of a man who suffered great injustice and lost 12 years of his life in an American institution that no one living today will ever experience first hand. It is a testimonial of how awful humans can be towards one another and hopefully it can help modern day people to turn away from such things and treat each other a little better every day.

## Features

- Used Book in Good Condition

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #106,439 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #66 in Black & African American Biographies #157 in Discrimination & Racism #172 in African American Demographic Studies (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 36,485 Reviews |

## Images

![Twelve Years a Slave - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71O0JCN0MwL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Classic Book Review 12 Years A Slave
*by C***N on February 8, 2014*

In 1841, Solomon Northup was a free black man living in upstate New York, with his wife and three kids. His freedom ended abruptly one day, when two men named Brown and Hamilton tricked Solomon with a promise of a job in the circus. Brown and Hamilton were just looking to take advantage of the Fugitive slave laws in the U.S. at the time, and looking to collect a quick dollar by selling Solomon back into bondage. Solomon was first kept in a holding pen in Washington D.C., and held by a man named James Burch, who claimed that Solomon was his slave, which of course he was not. It is in the slave pen where he meets Eliza, once a mistress to her master with kids from him and had some measure of freedom but she was sold to another master and now resided in the slave pen. Eliza was living the life of a slave, and suffering the emotional devastation from that fact, by constantly weeping. Solomon was transported first to Virginia and then to New Orleans, where he was bought by William Ford, a relatively kind owner who also bought Eliza, but could not afford Eliza’s children, and therefor added to her constant state of melancholy. Ford was in debt so he eventually sold Solomon to a cruel master named Tibbeats who worked Solomon day and night whipped him regularly, and nearly hung him to death, if not for the actions of an overseer named Chaplin, and a 400 dollar mortgage put on Solomon by Ford, Solomon, now called Platt, would have been a dead man that day. After more severe treatment at the hands of Tibbeats, Solomon ran away from Tibbeats and back to Ford, but the happiness Solomon felt with Ford was not meant to last. Solomon was soon no longer the property of Tibbeats or Ford, he was sold to another slaveholder in Louisiana named Edwin Epps, who seemed to share the sadism of Tibbeats, and none of the small kindnesses of Ford, when Epps was drunk he was even more cruel to his slaves. Epps had a favorite slave, named Patsey from Guinea, she could pick cotton better than Solomon and better than any other slave, male or female for that matter, but the unwanted intentions of Epps and the unwavering jealousy of Mrs. Epps made Patsey’s life intolerable. She tried to bribe Solomon to kill her, but he did not. Solomon had resolved to gain his freedom from the brutal and sadistic Epps one way or another. He wrote a letter to his friends in the North and asked a man named Armsby to deliver it. Armsby had come to Epps plantation looking for an overseer’s job. He spent several days with Epps, and Solomon somehow trusted him with his freedom, but Armsby betrayed him and told Epps about the letter In 1852 Solomon wrote another letter and asked a carpenter’s assistant named Bass to deliver it to his friends in New York State. Bass was Canadian, and vocally anti-slavery, but would he deliver Solomon’s letter, and secure his freedom? There are not enough glowing adjectives to describe this book. If you care about history, this is a must read for you. This is real history, written contemporaneously after the events of Solomon Northup’s kidnapping, and subsequent life as a slave. There is no embellishment here, there doesn’t need to be. It is just one man’s story, his harrowing experience with the peculiar institution of slavery. Solomon is first kept in a slave pen in Washington D.C. and the irony of the fact that he is being held in bondage, while just a few feet away leaders speak of freedom, that irony is not lost on Solomon. He speaks so eloquently and powerfully about freedom, real freedom, from the perspective of a man who has just had his every freedom taken from him. Today, in the atmosphere of political hyperbole that we live in, many politicians and people speak of their ‘freedoms’ being taken away by this law or that. If they can still protest the fact that laws are impinging on their rights, they haven’t lost any freedom at all. Solomon’s relationship with God is an integral part of his story. Most people in his position would be bitter and angry, but he steadfastly believed that God would one day deliver him. I find Solomon’s faith remarkable in the face of what he had to deal with every day for 12 years. Moreover, Solomon described William Ford as a ‘good Christian.’ I personally don’t think anyone who owned people as property is a good Christian, but Solomon Northrup did, and that makes him a good Christian. I implore you to read this book, it is not an easy book to read, reading about man’s inhumanity to other men in such stark terms, but it is well worth the effort.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good Narrative
*by D***I on July 1, 2014*

I read this prior to seeing the movie because I wanted to see what the story really was without Hollywood embellishment. This had no embellishment as far as I could tell and I could really get in touch with what this man went through. It read like a personal biography told by your grandfather. I could imaging Solomon Northup sitting in a room with a group of people just telling his tale while someone recorded it. It seemed very genuine. Because of it's matter of fact voice, I was able to read the story with a detached emotion. While I got interested in the characters and their stories, I was not overwhelmed with the emotion that I'm sure I will be when I see the movie and hear it with personal feelings from the characters along with all the cinematic glitz.. I do not mean to take away from what this man went through, as I am very certain it was extremely emotional and critical to the development of the rest of his life, but his straight fowardness with the facts just made the terrible truth of this time in American history easier to read for me. I like to listen to narratives as the details of peoples lives often interest me. But, they can become mundane sometimes. Since this is a situation that I have no first hand knowledge or experience with, it fascinated me from beginning to end. The only part that seemed to drag to me was the full chapters on how to plant, cultivate,and harvest cotton and sugar cane. While very important for explaining the everyday life that Mr Northrup lived during these years, it was very difficult to read because I have no knowledge or interest in anything agricultural. I would recommend this as a great narrative of a man who suffered great injustice and lost 12 years of his life in an American institution that no one living today will ever experience first hand. It is a testimonial of how awful humans can be towards one another and hopefully it can help modern day people to turn away from such things and treat each other a little better every day.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The harrowing, true history of a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery
*by M***. on April 6, 2014*

I have to admit that I'd never heard of this narrative until the movie got so much press this year. I had supposed that it was a work of contemporary fiction upon which the film had been based ( a la Jones' The Known World), and was surprised to learn that the book is a true slave narrative, first published in 1853. While primarily a heart wrenching story of injustice stacked upon injustice, the book also provides a great deal of interesting side history. Northrop was clearly a keen observer, and it was the detail he provided that allowed for so much of the story to be independently verified many years later. I was fascinated by his accounts of a typical day in the life of a slave during cotton season, then corn, or cane. He describes vividly the processes of sowing, harvesting and getting the finished product out on the market. He describes the terror slaves faced regarding their expected and actual output in a day's labor, as well as the harsh punishments affixed for not meeting expected output. It's vividly described and I've not read an account that better illustrates just how hard a slave worked, and how much was stolen from them (beyond the obvious wages) with each day's labor. The book is not an easy read. First, the sad and violent details are simply difficult to stomach. But, the flowery embellishment of mid-19th century prose also requires patient reading and frequent trips to the dictionary. After doing some research of my own, I've come to believe that while the ghost writer may have taken some license with the language, it is Solomon's voice and story we are reading and that the events described are all factual. Overall, this is an important and invaluable read. It is sometimes hard for the 21st century mind to process the unspeakable crimes described in this narrative, but this stain on our nation should never be forgotten, and it makes a book such as this one very important. In the end, I found myself inspired by Solomon Northrup's spirit and actions in the face of such evil and adversity. A truly worthwhile read.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-17*