Page 30 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

35 ● (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.)
BOURNE, GEORGE. Picture of
Slavery in the United States of
America. Frontispiece and ten additional
engravings. Frontispiece, [iv]-180, [appen-
dix] 182-227 pp., [i], index. Small 8vo,
early blue coated laid paper wrappers.
Middletown Ct; Edwin Hunt, 1834
[750/1,000]
FIRST EDITION, RARE. This disturbingly
graphic illustration and indictment of slavery is
in fact the second edition of Bourne’s pseudony-
mous pamphlet “The Book and Slavery
Irreconcilable, by a Citizen of Virginia,”
(Germantown, 1816) which Bourne printed
himself. This version, however adds a great deal
more material as well as the shocking engrav-
ings: “Selling Females by the Pound,” “Ladies
Whipping Girls,” or “Tanning a Boy.” The
latter shows a boy being punished by being
immersed in a vat, usually used for tanning
hides. Bourne (1780-1845) was the first to
call for “Immediate Emancipation Without
Compensation.” Afro-Americana, 1414;
Sabin 6921.
34 ● (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) FRANKLIN AND ARMFIELD, SLAVE
DEALERS. Manuscript ship’s manifest for 92 slaves, with a signed, sworn state-
ment by John Armfield, the ship’s co-owner and Joseph Moore, ship’s master, to
the effect that the slaves were not imported into the U.S. after January 1st, 1808.
Large folio leaf, folded to form four pages, written on all sides; creases where folded.
Signed additionally by the Port of Alexandria’s Collector.
Port of Alexandria, Virginia, October, 1833 [3,000/4,000]
A RARE SHIP’S MANIFEST OF “NEGROES, MULATTOS AND PERSONS OF COLOR ,” WITH A
LENGTHY STATEMENT REGARDING THE LEGALITY OF THE SLAVES ON BOARD, SIGNED
BY JOHN ARMFIELD OF FRANKLIN & ARMFIELD, ONE OF THE NATION’S LARGEST SLAVE
DEALERS The document is also signed by Joseph C. Moore, captain of the ship “Uncas.”
There follows a very detailed list of all 92 persons on board, their full Christian names, height,
weight and complexion. They were being shipped from the port of Alexandria to Isaac
Franklin in New Orleans. At the firm’s peak of business, in the 1830’s Franklin and Armfield
sold between 1000 and 1200 slaves a year. Between 1820 and 1860, the slave trade
accounted for a significant portion of the South’s economy. About 650,000 people were sold
across state lines; twice as many were sold locally. The slave trade enriched not only slave
traders, but landlords, provisioners, physicians, insurance agents, and other small businesses in the
cities and states where they were sold. Like Liverpool in England, many Southern port cities
grew up and were enriched around the trade.
35