(CUBA) Saco José Antonio Group of letters on slavery by an i

Sale 2420 - Lot 349

Price Realized: $ 500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(CUBA.) Saco, José Antonio. Group of letters on slavery by an important Cuban abolitionist. 4 Autograph Letters Signed as "Saco" to friend José Luis Alfonso y Garcia, Marqués de Móntelo, in Luxembourg and Havana. 20 pages of text, various sizes; condition generally strong, minor wear to final leaf of 1837 letter, a few faint marks in colored pencil; 2 with integral address panels and postal markings. Gibraltar and Paris, 1837-44

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

José Antonio Saco (1797-1879) was an important Cuban intellectual, most remembered for his opposition to slavery. He left Cuba in 1836 and spent most of the rest of his life as an exile in Paris, but never stopped advocating on Cuban issues and abolition. These letters all address slavery or revolutionary activities. The first, written from Gibraltar soon after leaving Cuba in December 1837, discusses groups in Spain working for Cuban independence, and asks for help in securing a passport from a Latin American republic so he can travel more freely about Europe. The second and longest letter, written 30 May 1842, reports on his arrival in Paris. He says he has been branded as a revolutionary for being a friend of the Negro ("independiente y revolucionario me juzgan . . . siempre me tachan de amigo de los negros," page 6) and has submitted a report on Cuban slavery to the Anti-Slavery Reporter in London. On 4 June 1844, acknowledges the problem of conspiracies among the Negroes, with the obvious solution being emancipation. His final letter, dated 27 September 1844, discusses his tract on the abolition of the slave trade ("Acepte su oferta generosa, y habiendome puesto a revisar el papel, lo he refundido y formado otro nuevo, cuyo objeto es considerar la abolicion del trafico baso el aspecto economico y politico.")