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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—NARRATIVES.) EQUIANO, OLAUDAH.
The Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by
Himself.
Two volumes in one. Portrait frontispiece after an oil portrait by Gainsborough,
and one additional plate of the Bahama Banks. 294 pages. 12mo, original publisher’s pat-
terned green cloth; spine extremities worn; joints worn, but firm.
Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1837
[400/600]
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION FOLLOWING THE TWO VOLUME ENGLISH EDITION OF
1789.
Olaudah Equiano, not unlike Jacobus Capitein, was fortunate enough to have been purchased by a
man looking for a companion-like servant. They both received decent treatment and some education at
the hands of their owners. Equiano was born in 1745 in Eboe, in what is now Nigeria. When he
was about eleven, Equiano was kidnapped and sold to slave traders headed to the West Indies.
Though he spent a brief period in Virginia, much of Equiano’s time in slavery was spent serving the
captains of slave ships and British navy vessels. One of his masters, Henry Pascal, the captain of a
British trading vessel, gave Equiano the name Gustavus Vassa, which he used throughout his life.
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—NARRATIVES.) MOTT, ABIGAIL.
Biographical
Sketches, and Interesting Anecdotes of People of Color.
406 pages. 8vo, modern brown
cloth in 19th century style; some occasional foxing throughout.
New York: Trustees of Lindley Murray, 1839
[500/750]
Probable third edition, considerably enlarged from the first edition of 1826. With an intriguing contem-
porary inscription on the front endpaper: "Nicholas Cook's Book, presented by a stranger on board the
Cars." Mott set out to record the narratives of ordinary people, and some extraordinary people. Among
the short biographical sketches and anecdotes are some important figures like Paul Cuffe, Gustavus
Vassa, Toussaint L'Ouverture and Prince Naimbana.
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