Society for the Abolition of SlaveryBiblio.com
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réf. 1528590139.Ghardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book. hardcover
1823réf. List3302London England: Ellerton and Henderson 1823. Three page document measuring 8 ½ x 13 ¼ inches. Folded with some small wrinkles at edges else Near Fine. A document produced by the Society for Mitigating and Gradually Abolishing the State of Slavery throughout the British Dominions better known as the Anti-Slavery Society. The group was founded in London in 1823 by a group of politicians philanthropists and businessmen including William Wilberforce Joseph Sturge and Zachary Macaulay. The document discusses the horrors of enslavement—even unfavorably comparing the British colonies’ conditions with those in the US—and decries the fact that after the 1807 Slave Trade Act essentially nothing more had been done to put “an end to a condition of society which so grievously outrages every feeling of humanity”. We find a single copy of the Ellerton and Henderson edition in physical format listed in OCLC as accession number 83930673. Ellerton and Henderson unknown
1728réf. 100536Pamphlet 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. H. Whitridge
1839réf. 3013Washington D.C. 1839. Fair. 3pp. Large folio. Separated into six pieces with a very small section of the final attestation lacking altogether. Still highly readable. A wounded but important document. A rare and historically-important document relating to slavery in the District of Columbia which was outlawed on April 16 1862 nearly nine months before the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The present document is an indenture made between William G. Howison and Alexander Hunter Esquire both citizens of Washington D.C. associated with property conveyed to Hunter by the deceased Joseph Birch. In 1824 Birch conveyed to Hunter land "and also a negro man slave for life named Lewis - another named George - two horses - 4 cows - 3 calves." The document indicates that Lewis was subsequently sold for four hundred dollars and George was sold to Birch in his lifetime. Documents recording the movement of slaves within the District especially among two citizens of the city are rare in the market. unknown
1822réf. 4276Howard County Mo 1822. Good. Three documents totaling 3pp. folio the two earliest documents written on each side of the same leaf with an integral blank and attached to the third document with sealing wax each document docketed on verso. Some short separations along folds minor spotting two short tape repairs. A series of three documents recording a case of slave theft in Missouri. The plaintiff in the case George W. Hardin sues a man named Urial Bailey for stealing three slaves from the Hardin estate in Howard County Missouri. The first document is a sworn oath dated May 23 1822 by George Hardin stating that "He was lawfully possessed of the negroes.and that the same were unlawfully taken by Urial Bailey.from his properties and with out his consent within one year last past and that he is now lawfully entitled to the possession of the said negroes." The document is attested by the clerk and signed by Hardin. The second document is executed by Hardin's lawyers on the verso of his oath dated the same day and constitutes an order from the court to the Sheriff of Howard County informing him that "George W. Hardin hath come into the Circuit Court held in the town of Franklin and found sufficient sureties as well as his clamour to prosecute for a certain woman called Dolly about the age of twenty eight years also one negro boy of about the age of nine years named Nathan also one negro girl called Eliza about the age of three years all the property of the said Plaintiff.which a certain Uriel Bailey.hath taken and unjustly detains. You are hereby commanded that the said goods.be delivered to the said George W. Hardin and that.Uriel Bailey appear before the said Circuit Court to be held at the town of Franklin." The third document is executed by Hardin's lawyers on the verso of his oath dated September 1822 and lays out the facts of the case. It reads in part: "George W. Hardin by his Attorney Tompkins & French complains of Urial Bailey that he took the previously named slaves of great value. To wit of the value of fifteen hundred dollars.where fore the said Plaintiff saith that he is injured and hath sustained damages to the value of five hundred dollars and therefore he brings suit." Interestingly in this document Hardin's lawyers refer to the youngest slave Eliza as a "mulatto girl." Docketing on the integral blank attached to the oath and lawyer's document dated May 23 1822 indicate that Hardin was seeking "Replevin Damages" of $500 which the court seems to grant. The motive behind Urial or Uriel Bailey's thefts are not recorded here but the issue of slave stealing was not uncommon and had been going on in the American colonies and the fledgling United States for a long time. According to Timothy F. Reilly in "Slave Stealing in the Early Domestic Trade as Revealed by a Loyal Manservant" published in Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association Vol. 55 No. 1 Winter 2004 pp.5-39: "Slave stealing plagued domestic slaveholders as far back as the colonial period when those who would unlawfully deprive a property owner of human chattel were detested as 'Negro jockeys.' Whether operating in the northern or southern colonies a 'man-stealer' lurking about either as a piratical thief or as a high-minded abolitionist was guilty of one of the worst crimes against the sanctity of property. By the 1830s man stealing reached epidemic levels in parts of the South." Despite the seeming prevalence of slave theft for a long period of time in the United States primary source records of court cases are very scarce. unknown
1836réf. 1691Boston: Isaac Knapp 1836. About very good. xvi13-238pp. 12mo. Original publisher's blue boards with black sheep spine gilt. Boards rubbed corners and spine moderately worn. Text lightly foxed. Scarce work addressing the anti-slavery work of George Thompson following his visit to America. Thompson 1804-1878 was British lecturer and reformer who worked as a commercial clerk. "Thompson first came to prominence in 1831 when he was recruited by the London Anti-Slavery Society's Agency Committee as an itinerant lecturer. In the run up to the Emancipation Act of 1833 he became the most effective British anti-slavery lecturer since Thomas Clarkson. With the struggle against British slavery apparently won Thompson was instrumental in reorienting anti-slavery effort towards the Americas and particularly the United States. . In 1834 he encountered the charismatic American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Recognizing Thompson's talent Garrison invited him to travel to the United States with his growing family to labour there on behalf of the enslaved people of America" - DNB. Thompson employed sarcasm and vitriol in his orations attacking anti-abolitionist sentiment across the northern states. In the process he failed to make very many friends or converts and alienated those with more moderate views. "Opponents attacked him as a foreign interloper and an anti-American agitator. They also discovered a scandal in Thompson's past alleging that in 1829 he had absconded with £80 embezzled from his employer. His supporters angrily rejected this charge though Thompson later privately admitted it was true he eventually repaid the sum in full. Hostility increasingly turned violent and in fear of his life he was smuggled out of the country in October 1835 returning to a hero's welcome in Britain" - DNB. This work is a rebuttal made by Thompson's American supporters aggregating information from British sources to defend his good name and abolitionist efforts after fleeing America for his homeland. It includes some of Thompson's speeches on slavery in America given before audiences in Scotland and England and discusses his work with the American Anti-Slavery Society. Though there are a handful of institutional copies the work is scarce on the market and does not appear in auction records over the pasty forty years. Sabin 9324. American Imprints 36449. Isaac Knapp unknown
1823réf. 423251London: Printed by Ellerton and Henderson Gough Square 1823. Near Fine. Folio 21.5 x 33 cm / 8½" x 13”. pp. 1 2-3 4 blank. Light vertical and horizontal center folds three short tears at the horizontal fold near fine with a contemporary drawing of a few survey lines and diagrams very lightly sketched in ink and pencil on the final blank page. The Society states its case against slavery in the Colonies of Great Britain where "there are at this moment upwards of 800000 human beings in a state of degrading personal slavery." It provides a brief but detailed description of "the immoral inhuman and unjust" nature of the slave trade and of the absolute power of slave owners. Printed by Ellerton and Henderson, Gough Square unknown
1864réf. 1067529 leaves of blue lined paper written in ink on rectos only. 31.5x20 cm 12¼x8" set in custom-made half cloth folder .Minor aging old folds; near fine. Official court document from Bexar County Texas summarizing the case of "Jim Owen a free person of African descent thirty years of age a resident of said county and state" who "desires to choose an owner and mistress and has selected for his mistress Sephrony Kerr…" Owen states that "he was brought from the State of Illinois to his state in 1850 before he was of lawful age by one John H. Burrus… who has since said time assumed a kind of guardianship over your petitioner without lawful authority…" All seemed on track until John H. Burrus filed suit stating that he was the "owner of said petitioner Owen" and "proof was not made that said petitioner is a free man of African descent" and "the negro Jim Owen… is his slave that he was brought to this State by the respondent in January 1850 as is slave and has been so held and owned up to the present time…" A new trial was granted and Kerr and Owen's petition denied. An appeal was allowed contingent on paying to Burrus a surety bond of $1500. A fascinating glimpse into the legal morass surrounding slavery as the Civil War raged and the "peculiar institution" of slavery was soon to be ended by force of arms.
1418réf. 106697Letter Signed 2 pp. folio letter sheet stampless address leaf. Two full pages of text. Folds with a couple of small tears or holes at folds normal aging and browning; otherwise very good.The letter is by Caroline F.R. Morgan to A.J.Walker in Milton North Carolina. Probably written in another hand but apparently her own verbiage with underlinings for emphasis and corrections. A strong legal statement by the widow Morgan of her rights as administrator of the Estate of her "late lamented husband" and his father responding to a Doctor's claim in a property sale in Milton North Carolina. Stating equivocally that "I administered his estate" with "Double powers of attorney if I may so express myself" and refusing to send a copy of her husband's will which "I consider a foolish request" and "would not do…for only the small amount of property in Milton but not for the whole of Milton."Most slave-owning women in the antebellum South were the widows of slave plantation owners who relied on overseers to manage often distant estates. A very few were more actively involved in the business affairs of the estates they had inherited. In Yalobusha County Mississippi two widows owned plantations with hundreds of slaves. One of these was Sarah Childress Polk of Tennessee widow of the 11th President of the United States. But her slave-holdings were exceeded by those of 42 year-old Caroline Fitz Randolph Morford Morgan of Lynchburg Virginia. Born in New Jersey to the grandson of a Quaker founder of Princeton University she had married a Virginia medical student whose father owned much of the city of Lynchburg as well as having real estate and slave holdings throughout the South. When he died in March 1847 she was left with three children and vast property in which she took an active interest not common "for a woman of her time and station." While she had many charitable interests – she was a charter member of a Female Missionary Society – records indicate that she personally bought and sold slaves both for the Morgavin Plantation in Mississippi and for her Virginia properties owning more than 100 African-American men and women including one "Aunt Sally" aged 104. She remained a widow for two years until she re-married to a younger man a Doctor who had come to Lynchburg to treat her family and slaves during an epidemic of yellow fever. That marriage ended contentiously in the 1850s and by the start of the Civil War she resumed her legal status as an independent woman ahead of her time. Apparently impoverished by the War she died in 1883. gavegarden.org
1850réf. 106404Folio manuscript legal sheets 11 pp. plus docketing on final back sheet. Traces of wax in some margins. Paper is browned and aged some minor creasing at folds margin hole on a couple of pages not affecting text; otherwise very good. This is a very complex legal case about the ownership of two slaves. These manuscript documents are signed by the three Constables deposed as witnesses. The testimony is taken at the law offices of Lysander G. Gordon. It seems that an individual who owed people money was forced to give the slaves to a sheriff and were then sold to William Knox in Southern Tennessee. However it appears that the slaves actually belonged to someone else. These documents try to sort though this mess.
1842réf. 106407Folded letter sheet four pages and remnant of wax seal. Creases at folds normal aging; otherwise very good or better. The letter is to Henry J. Carter Stockbridge Mass. from his brother. An unemployed 20 year-old Massachusetts teacher who had left home the year before in "exceeding hard times" Edward had gone to Baltimore – where some 50 teachers were out of work – and taken a job working for a wealthy man who had 4 acres of farm land worked by slaves. "…he has given me the office of overseer to look after the blacks in their work. O but you ought to see me walk over the lot with my cane in my hand to see how my work is going on. Then you ought to see the darky when he wants anything of me come up and take off his hat before he speaks…" Praising the "fine folks live in this beautiful part of the world" Carter proves that even a Massachusetts Yankee could quickly adapt to Southern culture and make peace with slavery. The letter is unsigned.
1863réf. 101890Letterpress broadside 18 7/8" x 11 3/4" bold black type for highlighted words. Paper evenly toned some wrinkling considerable archival conservation and restoration with archival paper repair; despite the imperfections it is still a decent copy with a nice impression. This appears to fall into the political dirty tricks department in an election between John Brodhead and Henry Bumm for city treasurer in Philadelphia. The broadside is supposed to highlight a letter from John Brodhead to Jefferson Davis in 1860. It has strong racist overtones as Brodhead supposedly requests a position in Nicaragua so he can "help open it up to civilization and Niggers." He goes on to state he is "tired of being a white slave at the North and long for a home in the sunny South." These kinds of political tricks were not uncommon during the Civil War period perhaps that's still true today and the racist overtones would certainly not help one's chances in a Northern election.
1852réf. 100540Letterpress braodsheet 10 3/4 x 6 1/4 text on both sides. Margins trimmed on both sides a little uneven on the left side close to words on reverse but not affecting text a few small stains in text. Indiana was for many years a site of refuge for escaping slaves. With this joint resolution the document declares that the only real way to do away with the injustice of slavery was to advocate emigration and colonialization of Africa.
1857réf. 23389.07Rare New York Senate Print of Proposed State Law to Combat the Dred Scott Decision "Every slave … who shall come or be brought or be involuntarily in this state shall be free." SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—NEW YORK STATE. New York Senate. "An Act To secure Freedom to all persons within this State" Edward M. Madden April 9 1857 Passed the Assembly on April 17; failed in the Senate. Printed with numbered lines for the use of the Senate. 1 p. 6.5 x 11.5 in. Excerpts "Neither descent near or remote from an African…nor color of skin shall disqualify any person for being or prevent any person from becoming a citizen of this state; nor deprive such person of the rights and privileges of a citizen thereof." "Every person who shall hold or attempt to hold in this state in slavery…under any pretence or for any time however short shall be deemed guilty of felony and on conviction thereof shall be confined in the state prison at hard labor for a term not less than two nor more than ten years." Historical Background In 1799 the New York legislature passed "An Act for the gradual abolition of slavery" that indentured and would eventually free slave children born after July 4 1799. In 1817 it passed a law freeing those slaves in 1827. But non-residents and part-time residents could still bring their slaves into the state temporarily. On March 14 1857 New York Assemblyman Samuel A. Foot introduced resolutions declaring that the U.S. Supreme Court through its decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford "has in effect declared slavery to be national" and calling for the creation of a joint committee of three senators and five assemblymen to "consider and report what measures if any the Legislature of this State ought to adopt to protect the constitutional rights of her citizens." The resolution passed by a vote of 49-24 and the Senate concurred on April 2. On April 9 Edward M. Madden introduced this bill in the Senate. Simultaneously Foot introduced this bill #24129 and three resolutions #23389.08 in the Assembly. Eight days later the Assembly with 81 Republicans 38 Democrats and 8 American Party members passed the bill 72 to 38. In the Senate with 17 Republicans 9 American Party members Know Nothings and 4 Democrats attempts to move the bill to the Committee of the Whole were evenly divided. Lacking the two-thirds majority required for this procedure the bill died. Very similar language appeared in an 1859 bill which also failed; New York passed no new Personal Liberty Law during the decade before the Civil War. The New York Senate had thirty-two members in 1857 so it is likely no more than fifty copies of this bill were printed for Senate consideration. We can find no evidence that any other copies have survived. Edward M. Madden 1818-1885 was born in Orange County New York and began work at a cotton factory at age nine. He worked as a merchant and then opened a saw factory in Middletown. He entered politics as a Democrat and was a delegate to the 1852 Democratic state convention. He joined the new Republican Party and served as a member of the New York Senate in 1856-1857 1872-1873 1875 and 1880-1881. He also served as a delegate to the 1864 and 1876 Republican National Conventions.
1845réf. 24737Mary B. Selden was the grandmother of Eleanor Love Selden who married John Augustine Washington III in 1843. She regrets not being able to furnish Washington with the services of one of her slaves as a stacker for the upcoming wheat harvest. Still a faithful employee West Ford worked for the Washington family well into the nineteenth century including delivering this letter. The letter includes a list of two dozen slaves written in pencil by John Augustine Washington III. SLAVERY. MOUNT VERNON. WEST FORD. MARY BOWLES ARMISTEAD SELDEN. Autograph Letter Signed to John Augustine Washington III hand delivered by West Ford; JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON III. Autograph List of Slaves. Single folio leaf with autograph address on verso. Alexandria Virginia 1845. Complete Transcript My dear Augustine I am very sorry to be unable to render you the service you require. I have a very fine stacker but he is hired by the year to Mr Young as I did not expect to have employment enough for him at Mt Ida. Another year if you wish it you can have him I receive very small wages for him and as a stacker I have never known any one equal to him. I am very sorry to hear that Nelly is sick. I hope she will be well enough to come up and meet the bridal party on thursday. I received a letter from Eliza to day in which she says they will be at Mt Ida that day but will bring no company with them. It will give great pleasure to them and to me if Mrs Washington Nelly and yourself will come up on that day. Mrs Lippitt will have a room ready for any of the party that will favour her with their company she must by no means be left behind. Most truly and affectionately / yrs M. B. Selden <2> Address: John A. Washington Esq. / Mt Vernon / By West Ford Docketing by John Augustine Washington III: Mrs. M. B. Selden List of slaves in pencil by John Augustine Washington III: Phil b. 1790 Hannah b. 1826 Gabe b. 1820 Eliza b. 1811 Ned b. 1827 Jim Michum b. 1795 Edmund b. 1827 John b. 1833 Betty b. 1833 Mary b. 1819 West Fanny "Belongs to my wife" Sarah b. 1809 Dennis b. 1838 Hannah Nelly b. 1836 William b. 1830 Jim Starks b. 1805 Joe b. 1832 Sally b. 1827 Ephraim b. 1834 Tom b. 1835 "bound to me till Oct 1856" West b. 1838 Jesse b. 1785 Historical Background Farmers in mid-nineteenth-century Virginia typically planted winter wheat in September and October and harvested it in the following June. After wheat had been cut a stacker tied the wheat into bundles and piled the bundles in shocks to dry in the field. After the shocks dried they would be stored in a barn or carefully built stack capped with grass to shed the rain until threshing time. Even after Cyrus McCormick developed his mechanical grain reaper in the 1830s men needed to follow the machine to bundle and stack the wheat. Building a good stack was an important skill and those workers free or enslaved who knew how to do so were very valuable at harvest time. Mary Bowles Armistead Alexander Selden 1783-1846 was born in Hanover Virginia. She married Charles Alexander Jr. 1772-1812 with whom she had five children including Louisa Elizabeth Fontaine Alexander 1802-1827. After her first husband's death she married Dr. Wilson Cary Selden 1761-1835. She was his third wife and they had three children. By his first wife Dr. Selden was the father of Wilson Cary Selden Jr. 1796-1843. In 1822 Wilson Cary Selden Jr. married Louisa Elizabeth Fontaine Alexander and they became the parents of Eleanor Love Selden 1824-1860 who married John A. Washington III. Thus Mary Bowles Selden was both the grandmother and step-grandmother of Eleanor Nelly Washington. At the time she wrote this letter she was living at Mount Ida a 6000-acre plantation that stretched along two miles of the Potomac River north of Alexandria Virginia and fewer than ten miles from Mount Vernon. Her first husband built the neoclassical mansion of Mount Ida in 1808. John Augustine Washington III 1821-1861 was born in Blakeley West Virginia the son of John Augustine Washington II and Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1840. His father inherited George Washington's Mount Vernon estate in 1829 but it passed to his wife at his death in 1832. In 1841 Augustine Washington proposed to manage Mount Vernon for his mother. When she died in 1855 the plantation passed to him. In 1858 after offering the property to both the federal government and to the State of Virginia he sold 200 acres of the Mount Vernon estate including the mansion outbuildings and family tomb to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association for $200000. Washington married Eleanor Nelly Love Selden 1824-1860 in 1843 and they had seven children. In 1860 he owned 22 slaves. In 1861 Washington joined the Confederate Army as a lieutenant colonel and served as an aide-de-camp to General Robert E. Lee. He was killed while conducting reconnaissance at the Battle of Cheat Mountain in September 1861. West Ford ca. 1784-1863 was born on the Bushfield Plantation in Westmoreland County Virginia to an enslaved woman owned by George Washington's brother John Augustine Washington. When George Washington visited West Ford was his personal attendant. When John Augustine Washington's widow Hannah died in 1802 she granted Ford his freedom at age 21. Bushrod Washington George Washington's nephew and heir to Mount Vernon freed Ford in 1806 and Ford continued working for the Washington family. According to family oral history Ford's mother Venus told her mistress Hannah Washington that he was George Washington's son. Nearly all historians doubt the claim though one of Washington's nephews certainly could have been the father. In 1812 West Ford married Priscella Bell a free woman. Their four children—William Daniel Jane and Julia—were educated on the Mount Vernon Plantation despite laws which restricted the instruction of African Americans. When Bushrod Washington died in 1829 he willed 160 acres of land adjacent to Mount Vernon to West Ford who continued to live on the Mount Vernon estate. Over the next several years West Ford was frequently highlighted in the media making his private life a matter of public record. In 1850 two Virginia newspapers—the Alexandria Gazette and the Virginia Advertiser—carried articles describing his prestigious position and authority at Mount Vernon. In 1857 an entry in the Fairfax County Deed Books noted that Ford divided his land among his four children. In 1858 Ford was sketched a second time this time by historian and artist Benson Lossing. In March 1859 Harper's New Monthly Magazine published Lossing's feature on Mount Vernon and included his sketch of Ford. Ford told the reporter of his property on Little Hunting Creek where he planned to retire after the Washington estate was no longer in the Washington family. In June 1863 an ailing West Ford was brought back to the Mount Vernon estate by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. The association cared for West Ford until his death on July 20 1863. Condition Foxing and show through particularly near the signature.
1853réf. 32820729Two sixth-plate daguerreotypes cased together. Left: nurse and child "Bradford & Ellen Sherwood his nurse" right: parents "Jonathan P. Harrison & his wife Caroline Denny Harrison". White family's cheeks are hand-tinted and the baby's dress is hand-colored. Some spots edges tarnished. A tremendous pair. Jonathan P. Harrison born 23 December 1829 and his wife Caroline Denny Harrison born c. 1834 are in one portrait while their son Bradford born c. 1853 and his black nurse Ellen Sherwood are in the other. The Harrison family moved from Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore to Texas in the 1850s to pursue ranching and farming opportunities. According to the U.S. Census in 1860 the family lived in Corpus Christi Texas with Jonathan reported as 29 years old Caroline 26 and Bradford 7 indicating a date of 1853 for this photograph. The Harrisons and Dennys were prominent Maryland and Texas families. Jonathan served with the 1st Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. Identified daguerreotype portraits of slaves are rare and linked pairs such as this set are very rare. It is conceivable that Ellen Sherwood was a free black but given the status of the Harrison and Denny families it seems probable that she was a slave. This splendid pair of photographs vividly demonstrates the complexity of black-white relationships in the antebellum South. Provenance: "Jonathan P. Harrison & his wife Caroline Denny Harrison / Their child Bradford & Ellen Sherwood his nurse" identified in a manuscript note beneath the right daguerreotype in the hand of Jonathan's niece Patty Belle Tilghman 1851-1931. See Hanson Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland p. 96.
1970réf. z015630Westport CT: Negro Universities Press 1970. Reprint. Very Good. Facsimile reprint. 8vo. in black cloth. Varying internal paginations. Very good. Boards and top edge foxed. Light penciling to contents else internally unmarked in a sound binding. Negro Universities Press unknown
1851réf. 106835Pamphlet 8vo wrappers 36 pp. Archival tape repair to back of front cover slight edgeware normal aging and browning; otherwise very good. Follows the general tone of a good deal of the abolitionist literature of the period. However while the author acknowledges the critical importance of slavery to America he suggests the issue needs to be debated with "calmness and candor" interestingly he indicates that the climate for these discussions appears to be improving. Charles C. Little and James Brown,
1839réf. 106839Pamphlet 8vo original blue wrappers 40 viii 7 1 pp. Very slight edgewear normal aging otherwise excellent condition. The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1835 but it appears to be the successor to the New England Anti-Slavery Society founded a few years earlier in 1831. This installment gives a glimpse of the organization's membership and finances. The pamphlet also presents some of the group's resolutions including their strong rejection of the Colonization Society which wanted to send slaves back to Africa. Interestingly the society discusses "the women question" which appears to have been settled by a vote to include women as members. Isaac Knapp,
1840réf. 100899Pamphlet leaflet 8vo 4 33-36 pp. Some aging and browning and a small stain at the bottom let margin; otherwise very good plus. Basically this short pamphlet provides "abridged selections" of various slave statutes from states around the country prior to the Civil War .The statutes consistently explain that a slave should be considered a thing not a person and of course has no right to own property. It also outlines various punishments such as 25 lashes for riding a horse without permission 21 lashes if more than six slaves meet together and death for striking a white person 3rd offense. The Anti-Slavery Bugle,
1836réf. 1005398vo pamphlet marbeled wrappers with printed label on front cover 32 pp.some minor spine snd edge wear slight aging; very good or better.The work begins with the original source of funds for its "Charitable Fund" which began with estate of Robert Boyle in 1691. Since the 500000 Negro Slaves in the West Indies were mostly "infidels and heathens" converting them to Christianity would be doing them a favor and help the empire.Converting the slaves to Christianity would make them more virtuous more comfortable offer them a prospect of eternall happines and even make them better servants. Richard Clay,
1830réf. List2931Mahébourg Mauritius 1830. Single unsigned fourteen-page letter measuring 8 x 12 ¾ inches. Folded with some stains and pencil marks. Overall near fine. In 1830 Mauritius was a British colony captured from the French in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. It was originally a Dutch colony and the Dutch had introduced enslaved labor to the islands. Enslaved people were imported from Madagascar India and Southeast Asia to harvest the valuable ebony trees and later to farm sugarcane. It became a French colony in 1715 and among other provisions the French government awarded upper-class colonists large land grants each with twenty enslaved people to work them. Slavery was abolished in 1835 under British rule after which the planters still farming sugarcane turned to indentured servant labor from India and China alongside illegal slavery.1 Offered here is a lengthy single letter written by an unknown author to an unknown recipient from Mahébourg in 1830 shortly before this radical change. The letter describes the lives and economic circumstances of the planters and merchants and of the non-white population particularly Malabar people and free and enslaved Black people. Noting that “every inch of ground that will produce sugar cane is planted with it” including “the former fine gardens to some of the Habitations” the author reports on the situation for sugar planters: “The price of sugar here is not more than 20/per Cwt. for the best quality which does not now remunerate the Planter as his expenses are becoming every day more heavy in consequence of their slaves diminishing . The want of Slaves induced many of the Planters to send for Chinese Labourers and several hundreds were imported at a great expense but unfortunately they did not answer and were obliged to be reshipped for their native Country again at the charge of those who sent for them.” The author later notes that “nearly everyone of the Planters have heavy mortgages on their Estates and are obliged to pay this immense Interest which keeps them poor and will I fear ultimately ruin them”. In fact the planters in British Mauritius had extra duties on their sugar exports compared with their Caribbean counterparts. The shopkeepers on the other hand “calculate on retiring with a fortune in five years– therefore you will fancy what must be their prices also their profits.” Though writing from Mahébourg the author describes the capital city of Port Louis at length especially its Malabar Indian and free Black residents—the lives of the latter particularly the free Black women seem especially grim. They write: “The Centre of Port Louis is inhabited by all the respectable people and many most excellent houses buildings– the Catholic Chapel the English Church amongst the number. The Suburbs to the West is the part occupied by about 3000 Malabars called ‘Malabar Town.’ – They are dressed mostly in white with Turbans ear rings c c and the females with ornaments in their noses and on their Toes as they generally go bare foot. – Once a year they have what is called a ‘Yamsee’ or a festival in honor of Mehomet which lasts for about a fortnight during which time they seem to get no sleep a continual beating of tom toms – jingling of bells – carrying pagodas which are made of various coloured paper and most richly ornamented followed by all the population of their Caste with their faces daubed with red white c and which has a most ludicrous appearance. The Suburbs to the South is called ‘black Camp’ – the Houses being very small and poor and inhabited by all the free blacks as well as many Mulattoes. – Also a certain class of females of the population of colour – who are visited immediately on the Arrival of a Ship the Crews soon enquiring the way to the ‘Camp.’” As regards relations between the races the author recounts an incident that followed the 1828 abolition of the color bar which would ostensibly give the free non-white population the same rights as the whites: “The Theatre is a very good one but has been closed for several months past the Actors Actresses gone to Bourbon in consequence of the promulgation of the act ‘causing all free people of the population of Colour’ to have the same laws – the same privileges as the Whites’ fearing they ought come to the Theatre which they had hitherto been forbidden thereby cause disturbances as the French Whites detest them wd. not sit in the same box it was considered best to shut the Theatre which is a great loss to the Place it being the chief public amusement and indeed the only one we have here.” Overall a detailed letter giving insight into life in a slave colony at a time when significant changes were on the horizon. Of interest to scholars of the colonial history of Mauritius and the second wave of British colonialism. 1 Truth and Justice Commission Report of the Truth and Justice Commission Vol. 1 Mauritius: Government Printing 2011. unknown
1859réf. 27949New York: Harper & Brothers 1859. Paperback. Good overall. The United States will forever be in this struggle between the rights of the States vs. the rights of the Federal Government. In this case the question is slavery. One of Douglas' papers promoting 'Popular Sovereignty" or the right of the people of a state or territory to decide the slavery question for themselves-as a Union-saving formula. 8vo 40pp publisher's paper wraps slt foxed still very readable. Harper & Brothers paperback
1786réf. 40654Philadelphia: 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 Exceedingly rare first American edition of Clarkson's first work. A landmark work by the writer who helped abolish slavery in the British Empire. 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. 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
1865réf. 39270Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery 1865. 8vo. 8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches. 16pp. With the author's compliments. Disbound. First edition of this powerful and timely address delivered just three months after the end of the American Civil War. A respected classicist professor and public intellectual Alpheus Crosby offers a sober and principled argument concerning the reintegration of the Southern states into the Union. Rejecting both harsh retribution and passive leniency Crosby emphasizes the constitutional and moral responsibilities of the federal government in the aftermath of rebellion. Framed by the ideals of Phi Beta Kappa and the liberal education it promotes Crosby's speech calls for a just and sustainable reconstruction policy underscoring the need for national unity grounded in legal equity and civic virtue. A revealing document of Northern intellectual engagement with the dilemmas of Reconstruction at its inception. Sabin 17626. Geo. C. Rand & Avery unknown
