154
●
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) VAUX, ROBERTS.
Memoirs of the Life of
Anthony Benezet.
8, 1-136 pages. 12mo, original printed paper-covered boards, lacking
the front board, rear board present with contemporary “cartoon” figure; paper evenly
toned;
AUTHOR
’
S PRESENTATION AT THE TOP OF THE TITLE
-
PAGE
; first few pages with some
light wear to the top corners; bottom margin untrimmed. Housed in a specially made
quarter red morocco clamshell box.
P
HILADELPHIA
: J
AMES
P. P
ARKE
, 1817
[4,000/6,000]
AN EXCEPTIONAL THREE WAY ASSOCIATION COPY
,
INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO
PRINCE SAUNDERS
:”Prince Saunders with the author’s respect.” A biographical memoir of the
noted French born American Quaker abolitionist. The Library Company of Philadelphia’s vast
African American holdings include six works by Prince Saunders, several of them inscribed to
noted abolitionists. But we could not find a single book inscribed to him, or even known to have
been in his library. Prince Saunders (1784?-1839), educator, author, mason and emigrationist,
was born in Boston. As a young man, he was encouraged to go to Haiti by William
Wilberforce. In Haiti, Saunders met the “Emperor” Christophe. “Polished and witty, he
became a confident of Christophe, vaccinated his children, and was entrusted by him with an
embassy to England. Saunders was impressed by the black king and his black kingdom. To
express this feeling, he edited the ‘Haytian Papers,’ a translation and a commentary of the
Code Henri [Christophe] . . . In 1818, Saunders came to Philadelphia . . . and made the
acquaintance of the Philadelphia anti-slavery leaders. One of the most important of these was
William Rawle . . . another was Roberts Vaux, a tireless Quaker, man-of-good-works, to
whom Saunders wrote” appealing to for aid in a business venture, and expressing his fear that
he was being targeted by a white businessman “because of my being a coloured man.” See:
LCP, Negro History, 1553-1903, #74, being an 1822 ALS written to Vaux.
I...,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97 99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,...310