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20

(SLAVE UPRISINGS.) STED-

MAN, CAPTAIN JOHN GABRIEL.

Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition

Against the Revolted Natives of

Surinam.

Map of Surinam and 81

inserted plates, several by William Blake.

Two volumes, 4to, contemporary full tree

calf, re-cased at an earlier date; with black

spine labels; tips rubbed; some offset and

foxing to the plates.

SHOULD BE SEEN

.

London: J. Johnson, 1796

[1,500/2,500]

FIRST EDITION OF AN IMPORTANT NARRATIVE

.

Captain John Gabriel Stedman’s (1744-

1797) account of his expedition to Surinam,

today’s Guiana. There he found the natives, a

mixture of local tribes and slaves in open revolt

against the planters—-but not without good

cause, as several of the more horrific plates by

William Blake would suggest. One in particu-

lar, “The Flagellation of a Female Samboe

Slave” depicts a woman strung up on the

branch of a tree by her wrists. This engraving is

often cited when discussing the abuses of slave

owners. Abbey Travel, pages 637-640.

19

[MORE, HANNAH].

The Sorrows

of Yamba; Or The Negro Woman’s

Lamentation, to the tune of Hosier’s

Ghost.

Broadside poem, 17

3

4

x 10

1

2

inches,

printed in three columns with engraved bor-

ders and engraved vignette, 2

3

4

x 3 inches at

the top beneath the title; creases where folded;

a couple of tiny holes where droplets of iron

gall ink have oxidized through; heavy hand-

laid, rag paper evenly toned.

London: Sold by J. Marshall, printer to the

Cheap Repository, circa 1795-1798

[1,500/2,500]

An epic poem written by Hannah More (and

Eaglesfield Smith) as part of the “Cheap

Repository” series. A classic piece of abolitionist

poetry, reprinted innumerable times, often copied,

and in one instance turned into an almost novel-like

account. Yamba is typical of the sort of religious abo-

litionism of the day that always included conversion

to Christianity as salvation from slavery, rather than

simple emancipation. Ms. More’s poem deals with

the African mother Yamba, and how she and her

child are taken by slave-traders. There follows a

poetical and horrific account of their “Middle

Passage,” to St. Lucie in the West Indies, the death

of her child, her suffering at the hands of a cruel

slave owner on a plantation, her eventual conversion to Christianity, and her death. We could find no

other copy of this broadside.

20