Feb 26, 2009 - Sale 2171

Sale 2171 - Lot 28

Price Realized: $ 1,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
RARE "ASSIENTO" TRACT (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Some Observations on the Assiento Trade, as it has been Exercised by the South Sea Company; Proving the Damage which will accrue to the British Commerce and Plantations in America, and Particularly Jamaica. 38 pages. 8vo, modern full calf in the style of an 18th century "Cambridge" binding with four raised bands and contrasting spine labels. London, 1728

Additional Details

first edition, scarce. A complaint lodged by the British planters in the West Indies regarding the Assiento, or "Agreement" with Spain which gave Great Britain a virtual monopoly on the African slave trade. The planters feared that this agreement in some way would require the British slavers to provide African slaves to the Spanish for their colonies in such numbers that there would not be sufficient slaves for the West India plantations. The Assiento with Spain marked the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade as an enormous economic engine. The nearly century long period following this agreement through 1808 saw the removal of millions of Africans from their homes. Goldsmiths'' Library catalogue; 6598; Hanson; 3721; Afro-Americana, 9595, not in Sabin; not in Blockson catalogue.