(Gold Coast, Slavery)Biblio.com
18 résultats
1745316296London: Thomas Astley 1745. Engraving. 4 x 13-1/4 inches. Creased from prior folding a few wormholes soiling and foxing. Engraving. 4 x 13-1/4 inches. Engraving showing "Negro Canoas carying Slaves aboard at Mansrow" extracted from A New Collection of Voyages and Travels 4 vols London: Thomas Astley 1745-7. <br/><br/> Thomas Astley unknown
177435034Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank 1774. First Edition. Leather bound. Fair. Octavo. 1 xiv 2 436 pages 1. Polished calf leather covers. Chipped title on the spine. Missing a section of leather bottom spine and another section is coming loose. Front cover is detached. Text lightly toned with scattered light brown stains. <br /> <br /> Two title pages with continuos pagination. Chapter in part 2 pages 279-311 is titled "Considerations On the Keeping of Negroes." This first edition was published after the death of Woolman 1720-1772. Several later editions have been published. John Woolman was a Quaker minister and early abolitionist. He traveled to England in 1772 to promote the abolition of Slavery but died soon after arriving in England. He is buried in York. <br /> <br /> Howes W 669; Sabin 10524. Joseph Crukshank unknown
177434482Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank 1774. First Edition. Three-quarter leather. Good. Octavo. 1 xiv 2 436 pages 1. Rebound in three quarter leather with tan cloth covered boards. Raised bands gilt decorations and title on the spine. Two title pages but continuos pagination. Inscription by the previous owner on the front blank end sheet. Front blank end sheet has some holes upper corner partly affecting the inscription. Moderate toning to the contents. Small worm hole lower back foredge not affecting the text. Pages 407-428 also has a small worm hole top edge not affecting the text. Chapter in part 2 pages 279-311 is titled "Considerations On the Keeping of Negroes."<br /> <br /> This first edition was published after the death of Woolman 1720-1772. Several later editions have been published. John Woolman was a Quaker minister and early abolitionist. He traveled to England in 1772 to promote the abolition of Slavery but died soon after arriving in England. He is buried in York. <br /> <br /> <br /> Howes W 669; Sabin 10524. Joseph Crukshank unknown
17884111Frederick County Md: March 7 1788. About very good. 1p. folio docketed on verso. Old folds short splits along a couple of fold lines minor toning. An impactful manuscript document from the early national period in Maryland formalizing the sale of a slave woman in Frederick County. The sale was made by Robertson Eastburn whose family emigrated from England to Maryland in the early 18th century. The document reads in part: "In consideration of the sum of forty six pounds in Gold and Silver to me in hand and paid by Frederic Strombol.I do hereby Acknowledge have Bargain'd Sold and Delivered and by these presents doth Bargain Sell and Deliver Unto the said Frederic Strombol One Negro Woman named Torry about thirty years of age To Have and to hold the said Bargained Negro woman unto the said Frederic Strombol."<br /> <br /> Slavery in Maryland lasted over 200 years from its beginnings in 1642 when the first Africans were brought as slaves to St. Mary's City to its end following the Civil War. In 1664 under the governorship of Charles Calvert 3rd Baron Baltimore the Assembly ruled that all enslaved people should be held in slavery for life and that children of enslaved mothers should also be held to the same standard of law. 19th-century American slave sale documents are growing increasingly scarce in the market. March 7 unknown
1794126550London no printer 1794 or later. First edition variously dated by ESTC and WorldCat between 1794 the date given at the end of the preliminary "Short Account of the origin and present state of the charitable fund" and 1823. The short account dated March 1794 is followed by a tipped in leaf reporting on the first meeting of the society which took place on Thursday April 3 1794 electing the Lord Bishop of London as president. The Charter of the Society 18 pages in length is dated at Westminster "this thirtieth Day of October in the thirty-fourth Year of our Reign" which again falls in 1794. Octavo 190 x 123 mm pp. ix 18. Sometime in a pamphlet vol. now disbound. Spine shows evidence of earlier binding sometime folded vertically; title lightly dust soiled page ix trimmed down and tipped onto p. viii; a good copy. Sabin 85881. unknown
179928145London: Printed by George Eyre and Andrew Strahan Printers to the King's most Excellent Majesty 1799 1799. ESTC N60288 Lincoln's Inn Library and Wellcome Institute. Fine. 4to disbound paginated 637-652 untrimmed. An act passed by Parliament in the summer of 1799 delineated in 39 paragraphs that regulated the slave trade beginning in August 1800 - an act no doubt intended to placate the growing voices of opposition to the English slave trade. The act stipulates how many slaves could be stowed in a ship by mathematical formula according to the size of the ship but never more than 400; that slaves must be separated from other cargo; and that the space for the slaves "be full and complete perpendicular height of five feet." Nothing is said about their treatment other than that the ship's surgeon was required keep a log of illnesses and deaths of both slaves and crew. Much of the act is taken up with its enforcement and the penalties and fines for violations; it also regulates the conditions and treatment of the crew. The acts of Parliament were usually published separately and later issued in collections of the Public General Statutes; this one was issued as part of the collection of statues Passed in the Thirty-Ninth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third: Being the Third Session of the Eighteenth Parliament of Great Britain. This copy is disbound from such a volume. (London: Printed by George Eyre and Andrew Strahan, Printers to the King's most Excellent Majesty, 1799) unknown
17101200341710. First Edition. SLAVERY ANONYMOUS. A True State of the Present Difference Between the Royal African Company and the Separate Traders. London: No publisher 1710. Slim octavo period-style full tan sheep gilt red morocco spine label raised bands; pp. 40. $1650.First edition of this argument against providing a monopoly over the British slave trade to the Royal African Company with tipped-in diagram of one of the Royal African Company's forts.This work attempts to highlight the irregularities of the business practices of the Royal African Company and to argue for the superiority of open trade in Africa particularly as a means of supplying slaves to the American plantations. Founded in 1660 by the royal Stuart family and the City of London the Royal African Company was founded to exploit natural resources like gold along the west coast of Africa. While the Royal African Company did participate heavily in the gold trade the majority of their income came from slave-trading. The Royal African Company was part of a concerted effortfully elaboration in the Navigation Actsto establish dominance in the slave trade since the Dutch had been the leading slave-traders prior to the Restoration. To that end the Royal African Company established a brutal and highly efficient slave-trading system eventually providing more slaves to the West Indies than any other company or state. The slaves were branded with the initials of the company or its longtime governor the Duke of York. Children were included in the transports. Between 1662 and 1731 the Company transported approximately 212000 slaves a fifth of whom died enroute. While the Company formally gave up slave-trading in 1731 they remained involved in the trade of ivory and gold dust industries dependent on labor exploitation and slavery. Goldsmiths 4605. Kress 2677. Early ink underlining and marginal notations.Small paper repair to diagram text and diagram trimmed close affecting portion of imprint and scattered catchwords not affecting readability. A very good copy. hardcover
17921262151792. HAITI SLAVERY. A Particular Account of the Insurrection of the Negroes of St. Domingo Begun in August 1791: Translated from the French caption title as issued. London: 1792. Slim octavo modern green cloth; pp. 32. $1800.Fourth edition published one year after the very rare first of this sensationalistic account of the early months of the Slave Rebellion in Haiti the beginnings of the Haitian Revolution which ultimately led to the establishment of the first independent black state in the New World. The publishers of this polemic hoped 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 the West Indies.Translated into English this is a speech to France's National Assembly ""by the Deputies from the General Assembly of the French part of St. Domingo."" The tract provides a frightening and grisly account of the August 1791 Slave Rebellion the result of ""a plot to set fire to the plantations and to murder all the whites."" The start of the insurrection by its ""perfidious"" leaders resulted in a catalogue of horrors and atrocities as the rebels ""spread over the plain with dreadful shouts set fires to houses and canes and massacred the inhabitants."" The ""fury of the cannibals"" is recounted in gory detail. The Speech is signed at the bottom of page 19 by six Deputies who call the insurrection ""the greatest calamity that has visited the human race in the course of the eighteenth century."" An Appendix records Letters and Speeches concerning the Rebellion. ESTC T110428. Goldsmiths' 15167. See Sabin 58932 1791 first edition; LCP 7460 2nd edition 1792; Work 349 1832 printing. First and last leaf slightly darkened text quite clean. Trimmed irregularly along upper margin affecting page numbers on two leaves but not any text. A very good copy of this scarce item. hardcover
1728100536<p>Pamphlet 8vo modern full calf in the style of an 18th century Cambridge binding 32 pp.Very slight aging; in excellent condition. This is a rare first edition of a work that presents a complaint by British planters in the West Indies concerning the Assiento or agreement with Spain that gave Britain a virtual monopoly on the African slave trade. This agreement came out of the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. This pamphlet indicates that the planters feared as a result of this agreement British slavers might be required to provide African slaves to the Spanish colonies which could result in insufficient numbers available for the West India plantations. The Assiento with Spain would mark the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade as a very powerful economic growth engine. Unfortunately this would translate into millions of Africans being taken from their homes.</p> H. Whitridge
178640654Philadelphia: London printed: Philadelphia: re-printed by Joseph Crukshank 1786. 8vo. 8 1/2 x 5 inches. xix 2 22-155 pp. Publisher's advertisement at rear. Original blue paper wrappers<br/> <br/> Exceedingly rare first American edition of Clarkson's first work. A landmark work by the writer who helped abolish slavery in the British Empire.<br/> <br/> First American edition of Clarkson's rare first published work preceded by the same years first English edition his famous prize essay on the abolition of slavery igniting the campaign for one of the fundamental rights of man PMM 232. In 1770s England as "rebellious Americans were severing ties with their former British motherland a strenuous battle occurred that spawned the noble civil- and human-rights fight that eventually ended Britain's participation in the African slave trade." With this Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species Thomas Clarkson "became the official whistle-blower of the horrors of transatlantic slavery the driving force behind the abolition of African slavery and the slave trade" Smith Thomas Clarkson 17. Clarkson's "famous prize essay was the prelude to parliamentary action" on the abolition of slavery. Clarkson together with William Wilberforce led the "campaign carried on by word of mouth and by means of the printing press for one of the fundamental rights of man" PMM 232. Clarkson had been completing his studies at Cambridge when he entered an essay competition and came across an "advertisement for Benezet's Historical Account of Guinea. He was profoundly struck by the title and 'hastened to London to buy it'. Overwhelmed by the horror and brutality of transatlantic slavery his goal of merely winning the prize for its own sake" shifted to creating a work of wider impact. On winning the 1785 Cambridge prize Clarkson translated the essay his Latin dissertation into English for publication. He documents the long history of slavery the devastating Middle Passage and the inhumanity of slavery in the colonies. Clarkson is renowned as "the man who spawned the British Abolitionist Movement and the first Briton to devote his entire adult life to ending African slavery… the moral conscience of American slavery proponents well into the 19th century" Smith 9-30 43. "He never ceased to work for anti-slavery lending his pen and his prestige particularly to the cause of abolition in the United States" DNB.<br/> <br/> Evans 19561; Library Company of Philadelphia. Afro-Americana 1553-1906 2nd ed. 2384; Kress B1028; ESTC W32021; PMM 232a; Sabin 13484. London, printed: Philadelphia: re-printed by Joseph Crukshank unknown
173860003<p>Mary Grosse Phillips Blair 1681-1738. Manuscript Document Estate Inventory Boston Mass. November 3 1738. 8 pp. folio. Mary Blair was widow of Capt. John Phillips and Capt. William Blair merchant. This inventory depicts a lavishly furnished mansion vast real estate holdings and a rich array of items in the shop -- suggesting that Mary Blair continued the mercantile trade after her husband's death in 1736. Also of note are enslaved persons Cato and Monday. Thomas Hancock was one of the administrators of the estate which was valued at over £28232. Another copy of the inventory exists in state records Suffolk County probate case 7223.</p><p>Fine condition.</p>
178940544Hempfield Westmoreland County Pennsylvania 1789. Folio leaves folded to oblong 7.5" x 9." Plain wraps with manuscript title detached but present. 44 pp including: 1-title 35 hand-paginated with entries 1-tally page and 1-assessors' certification 6 blank. Toned some splitting along spine folds light chipping at edges. Good. <br /> <br /> In March 1780 Pennsylvania enacted "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" requiring "That all persons as well Negroes and Mulattoes as others who shall be born within this state from and after the passing of this act shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life or slaves; and that all servitude for life or slavery of children in consequence of the slavery of their mothers in the case of all children born within this state from and after the passing of this act as aforesaid shall be and hereby is utterly taken away extinguished and for ever abolished." Persons born in Slavery before the date of the Act would remain as slaves. <br /> This inventory of taxable property is a Who's Who of Hempfield Township in western Pennsylvania consisting of an alphabetical list of the heads of households for the township. Each entry includes the number of servants under columns headed "Negro & Mulatto Slaves" or "Negroes"; land by deed warrant or location; improvements; number of horses horned cattle mills stills houses/lots and outlots; and value of the property in pounds shillings and pence. <br /> Several entries have "Single Man" written across the first few columns. The total taxable property in this return is £12850.3.9. Five entries have a "1" under the "Negroes" column including: William Perry Esq.; James Guthry who notes F 30; Alexander McDowall; David D.P. Marchant; Christian Rhodabough who notes 1-30. Other entries have an "X" in the "Negroes" column. The assessor is listed on the last page as Robert Flemman; Robert McKee 1771-1850 and Robert Taylor are his assistants.<br /> "Hempfield's early settlers were Germans from southeastern Pennsylvania. The name Hempfield was taken from Hempfield Township in Lancaster County which was formed in 1729 as an English place name. Hempfield Township in Lancaster County derived their name from the production of hemp. In 1818 Lancaster County divided Hempfield Township into East and West Hempfield. The settlers from Lancaster County that came to this area gave the same name to our Township where some of the early settlers had resided. Agriculture was the base for the settlers in the early days. The Township was known for the stills and distilleries where farmers refined the substantial grain output." "Naming & Establishing Hempfield Township" accessed at official website of Hempfield Township 25 February 2025. <br /> Two notable individuals listed are Henry Aleshouse 1757-1837 and Michael Huffnagle 1753-1819. Aleshouse was Captain of the Continental Army from 1776-1780 and prisoner of war during his service; Major in the Pennsylvania Militia in 1783; member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1802-1805 1812-15 1817-1818; and Pennsylvania State Senate from 1819-1826. Huffnagle was prothonotary for Westmoreland County Captain in the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment during the Revolutionary War one of the first lawyers admitted to the Westmoreland County bar Judge of the Court of Common Pleas Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Clerk of the Orphan's Court and Agent for Forfeited Estates. <br /> Of the slave owners Dr. David Marchant Marchand 1746-1809 was a Captain in the American Revolution local doctor and founder of the first hospital west of the Allegheny Mountains; William Perry Esq. 1745-1793 was a sheriff of Westmoreland County from about 1777-1789 Treasurer of Westmoreland County from 1783-1788 County Sheriff in 1779 and Captain of a company of rangers with the Westmoreland Militia.<br /> Some of the surnames listed are: Alesworth Aultman Berger Brisby Beer Barnheart Bell Campbell Condon Cough Crookshank Clingahsmith Davison Errit Fullerton Jenkins Kimble McCurdey Russell Robison Shotts Shull Taylor Turner Wagley Waterson Yokey and others. unknown
17981244831798. First Edition. SMITH Elihu.Hubbard. A Discourse Delivered April 11 1798 At the Request of and Before the New-York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves and Protecting Such of Them as Have Been or May Be Liberated. New-York: T. & J. Swords 1798. Slim octavo original tan self-wrappers string tied uncut; pp. 1-5 6-30 2. $3500.First edition of Smith's scathing attack on American slavery declaring it a betrayal as ""thousands of your fellow-beings children of the same father and inheritors of the same destiny writhe under the lash of cruelty"" an exceptional 18th-century abolitionist work published barely ten years after ratification of the Constitution exceedingly rare uncut in original wrappers.Trained as a physician under Benjamin Rush ""Smith was an early abolitionist a member and Recording Secretary of the New York Manumission Society and trustee of the city's African Free School"" Stevenson Litchfield Native. ""Passionately committed to the improvement of the fledgling nation through the acquisition and circulation of information"" Smith's analysis of slavery in this very rare work published the same year as his early death at 27 expresses his and the Society's commitment ""to ideals of human perfectibility which they combined with the practical labor of achieving change"" Kelly on Kaplan Men of Letters. Here he takes aim at leaders and nations where the ""spirit of despotism multiplied and extended the evil"" of slavery and ""wrought it into a system."" Noting the influence of renowned abolitionists John Woolman and Anthony Benezet he asserts that it is those in slave trade who particularly ""opened a new field for every baneful enterprise"" when they became ""the first to violate the noble principles by which they had been guided."" Smith especially speaks to American leaders and slaveholders who concede ""slavery is unjust"" but claim ""it is entailed upon us by our fathers; it is interwoven with every part of our social organization."" In reply he declares that it is ""strange reasoning"" to endorse slavery simply because it exists. Arguing ""the laws of our country authorized the possession in human flesh"" he asks: ""Shall the legislators of a great nation be denied the power of acknowledging their errors and laboring to correct them Encumbered as we are with this mighty evil"" Smith proclaims: ""You yes you the Legislators of America you are the real upholders of slavery you foster and protect it you immortalize injustice while thousands of your fellow-beings children of the same father and inheritors of the same destiny writhe under the lash of cruelty."" Evans 34554. Sabin 82502. Dumond 103. ESTC W37980. Not in Blockson. Text quite fresh with only faintest foxing to original wrappers. An excellent about-fine uncut copy in original wrappers. unknown
1791180598Edinburgh: Printed for J. Robertson 1791. Stepping up the campaign against slavery Second Edinburgh edition of this best-selling report on the colonial slave trade including a version of among the most famous abolitionist images the cross-section depicting the enslaved individuals transported aboard the Brookes. The Abstract is the first abolitionist work to ground its arguments not on biblical appeals or forceful rhetoric but on documented eyewitness accounts. Until 1790 the abolitionist campaign had been channelled through pamphlet and pulpit. After 1790 abolitionists turned to the new technique of mass petition campaigns against Parliament. The Abstract publishes the testimonies of the witnesses called by the petitioners arranging them thematically by chapter. Among others the select committee called planters traders naval officers and doctors. "The abolitionist petition campaign reached an apex during 1791-1792 where an unprecedented 519 abolitionist petitions coming from all over Britain were delivered to Parliament. Some 400000 persons signed these petitions 1 out of every 11 adults with Manchester alone contributing 20000 names from an adult population of about 30000" Fogel p. 212. Octavo pp. iv 128. Large folding plan of a slave ship folding map of the western coast of Africa tables in the text. Original paper wrappers spine lettered in manuscript ink edges uncut. Housed in custom orange cloth box. Contemporary presentation inscription from "Mr. Campbell" to "John White" on the front cover. Rubbing and chipping minor loss to spine and extremities browning and foxing to contents slight offsetting to plates folding plan loose: just about a very good fragile copy. ESTC N29168. William Fogel Without Consent or Contract 1989. hardcover
1763132583London: R. Baldwin 1763. A classic of in the field of colonial and Caribbean literature First edition of the first-named fourth of the second which was first published in Antigua 1750 under the pseudonym of "An Old Planter". John Campbell 1708-1775 was a highly successful historian and miscellaneous author Johnson thought well of him and praised the usefulness of his knowledge also describing him as "the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature" ODNB. The present work was commissioned by Lord Bute to rebut criticism of the Treaty of Paris by demonstrating "the value of colonial holdings in general and of sugar islands in particular" Ragatz. That is was felt to have done its job is perhaps confirmed by Campbell's appointment in 1765 as king's agent to Georgia. Considered by Ragatz to be a "classic of in the field of colonial and Caribbean literature embodying as it does one of the clearest statements of eighteenth-century philosophy regarding the relations that should exist between the metropole and its outlying possessions". This copy has additional material bound in: Bew's map of St Christopher's a 2-page manuscript index and bound at the rear a copy of Martin's practical essay on plantation management. Samuel Martin 1694/5-1776 had been born on Antigua but spent some considerable time thereafter in Britain on his full-time return to the island he found the family estates much run down and "embarked on a rigourous policy of reconstruction. Although he helped to pioneer improvements at most of the key stages in sugar-making and rum distillation his interests focused mainly on the non-manufacturing side of production. He was a firm advocate of crop rotation followed by marling in order to improve soil fertility. He was also instrumental in developing more effective systems of drainage and utilising windmills rather than animals for crushing the cane. By the standards of his contemporaries Martin was an enlightened slave owner. He advocated the provision of adequate supplies of food clothing shelter and medical facilities for slaves and ground for the cultivation of their own food" ODNB. His methods made him Antigua's leading and most progressive planter and during his own lifetime he certainly "succeeded in making sugar production a moderately profitable enterprise on his own estates". Both titles are moderately well-represented institutionally but neither appear with any great frequency at auction just a handful of copies of Campbell in the last fifty years and no copy of the Essay upon Plantership in any edition has passed through the rooms since 1951. Two works bound in a single vol. octavo 196 x 120 mm. Both bound without half-titles. 4 folding maps to the first-named 3 as called for; Caribbee Islands and Guyanna coloured in outline; The Harbour of Calivenie. Island of Grenada. Drawn by John Powell Topographer; and Plan of Fort Royal in the Island of Grenada and additionally a map of St. Christophers by J. Bew dated 1782 coloured. Contemporary streaked calf flat spine ruled gilt red morocco label single gilt rule to board edges Dahlia marbled endpapers. A little rubbed particularly on the joints label chipped no loss of lettering corners through small patch of insect damage to the lower board pastedowns lifting at the lower corners front free endpaper torn without loss slight erosion at the lower corner of the text-block for the first thirty pages or so mild worming to the fore-margin pp. 39-176 some small splits and closed tears to the maps no losses; overall very good. Campbell: ESTC T65879; Ragatz p. 284; Kress 6081; Sabin 10232. Martin: ESTC T81835; Sabin 44920 hardcover
1759ST19900Philadelphia and Germantown: Benjamin. Franklin and David. Hall or Christopher Sower 1759-60. 192 x 130 mm. 7 1/2 x 5". 1 p.l. collection title 47 1 71 4 76-168 iv 5-43 1 55 1 64 16 pp. <br/> Contemporary blind-ruled sheep nicely rebacked to style raised bands. Verso of front flyleaf inscribed in ink in the recipient's hand: "This Book is the Gift of Mr. Anthony Benezett sic to William Anderson October 14th 1760"; front pastedown with ink inscription: "The holy Book To Be Read"; title page with signature of William Anderson dated 1760; front flyleaf and both free endpapers with additional 19th century owner inscriptions. Miller 730; Smith Friends' Books I p. 240. For "Observations": Sabin 4676; Evans 8542. Boards a little dried and scuffed with a couple of small stains text variably toned because of colonial paper quality perhaps a fifth of the text rather browned dampstaining in the upper margin in the middle part of the volume mostly unobtrusive but darker and extending downward on a few leaves. The texts in the kind of problematic condition expected with early American imprints but the binding much better than is normally seen.<br/> <br/> This is a presentation copy of an important published collection of Quaker texts that includes four works printed by Benjamin Franklin as well as an early significant abolitionist tract that delivers a powerful condemnation of the slave trade. The collection title page lists nine tracts in total six of which were issued with separate title pages comprising: "An Extract from the Spirit of Prayer" by W. Law; "A Discourse on Mistakes concerning Religion" by Thomas Hartley; "Christ's Spirit or a Christian's Strength" "The Stumbling Stone" "The Doctrine of Baptism" and "The Trial of Spirits" all by William Dell; "The Liberty of Flesh and Spirit Distinguished" by J. Rutty; and "Observations on Enslaving Importing and Purchasing of Negroes &c." followed by "The Uncertainty of a Death-bed Repentance" both by Anthony Benezet. Miller asserts that "the first fifth sixth and seventh had previously been printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall all in Caslon type. The remainder had been printed by Christopher Saur who owned no Caslon letter." The volume title also in Calson type is attributed to the press of Franklin and Hall for the same reason. According to Miller Anthony Benezet put together this collection of Quaker material in the spring of 1760 in an edition of 500 copies with the hope of reaching those living "in ye back Parts of Maryland Virginia & N. Carolina . . . and Connecticut." First printed in 1759 Benezet's forceful denunciation of the slave trade is notable for using eyewitness accounts from people actually involved with the trade recounting the horrific practices and conditions that were realities of the system. Citing various lines of scripture Benezet argues that slavery runs contrary to Christian teachings and Mosaic law and that those who purchase and keep slaves bear as much guilt as the traders themselves. Born in France to Huguenot parents Benezet 1713-84 was a Quaker abolitionist educator and writer who became one of the earliest and most outspoken advocates against slavery in colonial America. He emigrated to Philadelphia by way of Rotterdam and London in 1731 where he founded Pennsylvania's first secondary school for girls and later opened one of the first schools to welcome black students. ANB says that "Although Benezet is recognized as the most prolific antislavery propagandist of the eighteenth century throughout his lifetime he supported and wrote about a wide variety of causes and topics including assistance for Acadian refugees temperance peace fair treatment of Native Americans religion educational reform and poor relief." His wife Joyce Benezet d. 1786 née Marriott was a preacher in the faith herself. According to Waldstreicher Franklin maintained a "lifelong friendship with Quaker politicians merchants and scientists. . . . He admired Quakerism because of its affirmation of simplicity frugality anti-slavery and humanitarianism." Franklin also saw the possibility of profit in printing for the considerable Quaker population of his colony. Hall 1714-72 came to Philadelphia from London in 1744 to work for Franklin and became a partner in the firm in 1748. As a considerable mark of his regard for Hall Franklin drew up a contract whereby his partner would over an 18-year period buy him out. It is a further sign of Franklin's regard for Hall that the printer is buried beside Franklin and his wife. As to contemporaneous provenance we can speculate with some degree of certainty that our William Anderson was the person of that name who was a Quaker preacher from Haverford near Philadelphia. His wife Margaret--like Benezet's wife Joyce--was also a preacher and these two husband-and-wife teams are dealt with in Rebecca Larson's "Daughter of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad 1700-1775" 1999 Appendix 2. . B[enjamin]. Franklin and D[avid]. Hall or Christopher Sower unknown
1791140945477Printed at the Joint Expence of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Societies instituted for the Abolition of the Slave Trade: Edinburgh 1791. First Edinburgh Edition. Very Good. Rare first Edinburgh edition published same year as the London edition of eye-witness testimony on the horrors of the British slave trade containing a very early engraving of the famous large folding plate of slaves packed into the hold of the slave-ship Brookes. The famous engraving is one of the most powerful and influential images in the history of social justice and the fight to abolish slavery. It served as a gruesome test of the Britain's "humane" Slave Trade Act of 1788 also known as Dolben's Act which limited the number of enslaved people that British slave ships could transport based on the ships' tons burthen. <p>Very Good. Small 8vo bound in somewhat recent quarter calf and marbled boards with light fading to the spine. Folding frontispiece map of the west coast of Africa in with 2 x 0.5" loss along one edge neatly restored. Large folding woodcut 16.25 x 15.5" of a slave ship based on the engraving W. Elford published in a pamphlet in London in 1789 is excellent and bright with several repairs made to the verso mending tears. The print now an iconic symbol of the Middle Passage was so visually arresting that William Wilbeforce created a scale model of the Brookes making it a central part of his presentation before the House of Commons. His abolition bill did not garner enough support to pass and it was not until 1807 that England succeeded in abolishing slavery. Edinburgh unknown
1713370449London: Printed for John Baskett 1713. 2 48pp. printed in English and Spanish in parallel columns. Without the Privilege leaf preceding the title. Quarto. Trimmed and inlaid into folio sheets and bound within a folio volume of treaties between Great Britain and Spain assembled by the British Foreign Office Library approx. 850pp in total. 19th century half roan and marbled paper boards worn some restoration at joints. Provenance: British Foreign Office Library bookplate on the front pastedown. 2 48pp. printed in English and Spanish in parallel columns. Without the Privilege leaf preceding the title. Quarto. First edition in English of one of the most important documents in the history of slavery in the Americas and in the political and financial history of Europe and the Americas in the early 18th century. <br /> <br /> Though the term "assiento" could refer to any number of Spanish contracts "the Assiento" almost always refers to the "Assiento de Negros": a monopoly contract granted by the Spanish crown between 1528 and 1779 for the sole right to import slaves from Africa into the Spanish colonies. Normally granted to individual companies the 1713 Assiento was granted directly to the British crown as part of negotiations for the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the War of Spanish Succession. In the decades following this 1713 Assiento an estimated 200000 enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic.<br /> <br /> The document grants sole privilege for the trade to the British crown for a period of thirty years expiring in 1743. The agreement consisting of forty-two articles allows for a maximum of 4800 slaves to be introduced to the colonies each year with a provision for increasing that annual amount each year by paying an added duty places limits on sale prices sets the cost of the duty to be paid for each enslaved person allows for the use of British or Spanish ships and mariners in the slave trade provides for the French Guinea Company's extraction from the colonies and establishes the details of precisely where British ships would be allowed to travel and trade. The British were also granted the unique privilege to send one vessel with a cargo of up to 500 tons of other trade goods to the Spanish colonies each year. <br /> <br /> While the Assiento seemed a lucrative deal most Assientists over the years saw considerable losses due to the difficulty of cross-Atlantic trade and the duties paid to the Spanish king. The real benefit to its grantees was not profits from the slave trade but rather the illegal ability to send other contraband on board their vessels to the otherwise closed-off Spanish markets in the New World. Britain was eager to get their own products overseas and to deny this revenue stream to the French who had held the Assiento since 1701 thereby preventing them from refilling their coffers too quickly and upsetting the balance of power in Europe after the costly War of the Spanish Succession. <br /> <br /> Queen Anne delegated the Assiento privilege to the South Sea Company which had recently been established to pay off Britain's considerable national debt. The privilege was largely granted to them as an encouragement to investors in order to allow the Company to achieve its original purpose more readily. Ultimately however it proved to be a costly and unprofitable endeavor for the South Sea Company who were able to import only about one-third of their allowed quota of slaves each year were frequently interrupted by war and were required to render twenty-five percent of their profits to King Philip V of Spain. <br /> <br /> The present example comes from the British Foreign Office Library inlaid and bound into a folio volume of other treaties between Great Britain and Spain arranged chronologically by treaty date. Over the course of many years the library of the Great Britain Foreign Office inlaid copies of nearly every treaty involving Great Britain to folio size and bound them together by region. The library was dispersed in the late 20th century with most of the volumes and particularly the American volumes broken up and sold by the William Reese Company.<br /> <br /> Most of the other treaties with Spain within this volume are clippings or extracts from larger works or true copies in manuscript of treaties dated between the years 1176 and 1739. Included in the volume however is a separately-printed English edition of the Treaty between Great Britain and Spain as part of the Treaty of Utrecht 1713: Tractatus pacis & amicitiæ . Treaty of peace and friendship between The most Serene and most Potent Princess Anne by the Grace of God Queen of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith &c. and the most Serene and most Potent Prince Philip the Vth the catholick King of Spain concluded at Utrecht the 2/13 day of July 1713. London: Printed by John Baskett 1714. 115 1pp. ESTC T51509.<br /> <br /> There are two issues of the Assiento treaty; this is the issue with a semicolon after "Assiento" and no punctuation after "or" on the titlepage. A crucially important document in the history of colonial trade Spanish-British relations English finances and slavery in the Americas. Sabin 2227; European Americana 713/85; Hanson 1896; Sperling 34; JCB 1III:175; ESTC T4476 Printed for John Baskett unknown
