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(HAITI.) MOREAU DE ST. MERY, MEDERIC LOUIS ELIE.
Loix et
Constitutions des Colonies Francoises dans L’Amerique sous leVent.
Five volumes,
large, thick 4to, contemporary full speckled calf, spines gilt extra with five raised bands; with
a note in ink on the front free end-paper of volume five (from a different but identically
bound set) stating that this volume came from the family of Reynaud de Vellevard (?) An
exceptionally well-preserved set.
Paris:The Author, 1790
[3,500/5,000]
FIRST EDITION
.
Mederic Louis Elie Moreau de St. Mery (1750-1819) came from a wealthy
French family. Born on one of the family’s residences at Fort Royal on the Island of Martinique,
Moreau was sent to Paris to study. Returning to Martinique, he became an attorney at Cap
Francais.The present enormous work is one of several works he produced on the French colonies
in the West Indies. It is a codification of the various laws concerning the colonies covering the
period of 1550 through 1779.There is much in these volumes regarding slavery and the complex
laws governing the estates on which slavery was practiced.A scarce work, in extraordinary condition.
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(HAITI.) TARBE, CHARLES.
Rapport sur les Troubles de Saint
Domingue, fait al’ Assemble Nationale, par Charles Tarbe, Depute de la Seine
Inferieure, au Nom du Comite Colonial.
52 pages. 8vo, original self-wrappers,
stitching perished; “bleached” spot on front cover, not affecting the text, paper evenly
toned; copious light pencil underlinings and some marginalia, closed tear to leaf 35/36.
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1791
[600/800]
CharlesTarbe, the author of this Report and one of the French Deputies, tried to paint a positive
picture of what was happening on the island of St. Domingue in terms of the whites there. He
stresses the support of the “Amis de Noirs,”The Friends of the Blacks, and generally plays down
some the reports of violence, explaining how the spirit of “our” revolution (France’s) had inspired
that of the islanders. However, in closing,Tarde mentions the principal acts of violence are coming
from the “Blacks” in the north and the “Mulatres” in theWest, and that something must be done.
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(HAITI.) [ANON.]
A Particular Account of the Insurrection of the Negroes
of St. Domingo, Begun in August, 1791, translated from the French.The Fourth
Edition,With Notes and an Appendix extracted from Original Papers.
32 pages,
modern plain blue wrappers; paper evenly toned.
London, 1792
[1,000/1,500]
THE FOURTH EDITIONWITH ADDITIONS
. Basically a polemic intended to frighten the British
public and turn them away from the abolitionists,Wilberforce and Clarkson who were trying
to put and end to slavery in the British colonies in theWest Indies. Sabin, 58932;Work, 349.