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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.)WARDSTROM, CARL BERNHARD.
Plan and
Section of a Slave Ship (from Wardstrom’s “Essay on Colonization, particularly
Applied to theWestern Coast of Africa.” London, 1794),
20-3/4 x 26-3/4 inches; faint
creases where once folded, with a tiny hole at the conjunction of the early folds; professionally
conserved with archival paper on the reverse.
London, 1794
[3,500/5,000]
A rare variant of the 1789 representation of the slave ship Brookes (sometimes spelled Brook’s).
The present engraving, taken from the Brookes model, depicts the familiar cutaway of the hold
of a slave ship with the people literally stacked like cord-wood. However, it also bears an extra
vignette engraving (4-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches) titled “Representation of an Insurrection on board
a Slave Ship.”The entire piece is divided vertically into two halves, with a sizable piece of text,
“Description of a Slave Ship” to the right of the engraving.Wardstrom provides rare details on
the dimensions of the decks holding the men, women and children; the height and width and
depth. He also goes into some detail on the loss of life during the terrible “Middle Passage,”
based on the narrative of Alexander Falconbridge, (“An Account of the Slave Trade on the
Coast of Africa,” London, 1788). Falconbridge was surgeon on a Liverpool slave ship.
P R I N T E D & M A N U S C R I P T
A F R I C A N A M E R I C A N A
Public Auction Sale 2271 March 1, 2012 10:30 am & 2:30 pm