Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 7

Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
(ABOLITION.) [Thomas Fisher.] The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, by an Abolitionist. iv, [2], 127 pages. Octavo, 8½ x 5½ inches, later cloth, minor wear; minor foxing; uncut, title page in red and black. London: Hatchard and Co., 1825
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Additional Details

First edition, presumed first state. Written by an English abolitionist, it is framed as a series of questions and answers in eight sections. Starting with the basics, it progresses to the political and economic complexities of the slave-trade: "Q 31: Has any experiment been made for the purpose of ascertaining the political and commercial importance of a more legitimate intercourse with Africa?" Fisher defends the Haitian revolution, not at all popular at the time, and attempts to dispel some of the more lurid tales of murder there.

The appendix is the third printing of "Narrative of Ottobat Cugoano, a Native of Africa; Published by Himself in the Year 1787." None of the earlier printings have appeared at auction since 1979, making this appendix scarce in its own right.

Another early state of this book is held at the British Library, identical in all respects except for the lack of a date on the title page. Their catalogers assigned it an 1824 date, apparently in error. The earliest mentions we find of the book are in a list of books "ready for publication" in the April 1825 Gentleman's Magazine, and in lists of new publications in the May 1825 issues of several British periodicals.

Sabin 52275; not in Afro-Americana or Blockson. None traced at auction since a Swann sale, 10 March 2011.

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