13 300
7
●
HAITI [SAINT DOMINGUE].
De
l’Etat des Negres Relativement a la
Prosperite des Colonies Francaises et
de Leur Metropole. Discours Repre-
santans de la Nation.
52 pages. 8vo, late
nineteenth century 1/4 tree calf and mar-
bled paper-covered boards; long morocco
label up the spine.
[Paris], 1789
[600/900]
An examination of the condition of the blacks
in the French colonies relative to the prosperity
of the French people. The author of this tract is
definitely NOT an abolitionist. He refers to the
French abolitionist society, “Les Amis des
Noirs,” the Friends of the Blacks, and asks that
the French Congress pause a moment to consider
the economic well-being of the nation weighed
against the demands of the abolitionists.
8
●
[WI LBERFORCE ,
WILLIAM, ET AL].
An Abstract
of the Evidence Delivered
before a Select Committee of
the House of Commons.
Demi-8vo, 128 pages. Large
folding diagram of the hold of
the slave-ship Brooke: 16
1
⁄
2
x 16
inches, lightly toned with some
faint offset, an excellent exam-
ple, seldom found thus.
Edinburgh: Printed at the
Expense of the Glasgow and
Edinburgh Societies, 1791
[3,500/5,000]
FIRST EDINBURGH EDITION OF
THE
“
EVIDENCE
”
AS PRESENTED
BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COM
-
MONS
.
This presentation was
meant to shock those members of
that body who were still playing
down the cruelties of the slave trade. The plate is accompanied by a page describing the horrendous
below-deck conditions of the slave ship. Also in the evidence are accounts by eye-witnesses to the bar-
barous treatment of the African slaves. A publisher’s page explaining this book and the reasons for it
precedes the title page. Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) was an ardent abolitionist who worked with
members of Parliament like William Wilberforce to bring about the end of the African slave trade.
Clarkson rooted out the evidence and Wilberforce and others would bring it up in the House of
Commons. Their combined work and that of other British Abolitionists first brought about the 1807
ban on the taking of slaves from Africa, and later the total emancipation of the slaves in the West
Indies (1834).
A RARE BOOK
,
SELDOM FOUND WITH THE SLAVE SHIP PLATE
.
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