(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION--HAITI.) DUBROCA, JEAN-LOUIS. Vida de J. J. Dessalines, gefe de los negros de Santo Domingo, con notas muy circunstanciadas sobre el origen, character y atrocidades de los principales gefes de aquellos rebeldes desde el principio de la insurreccion en 1791. Traducido del Frances. . . Engraved, hand-colored frontispiece and nine additional engraved plates, by Jose Antonio Carraro, three of which have been hand colored as well at an early date. Contemporary full Spanish tree calf with five double gilt bands on the spine with floral tools in five panels. Mexico: Oficina de Mariano Zuniga y Ontiveros, 1806
the first mexican and thus first edition published in the americas, following a paris edition of 1804 and Madrid edition of 1805. It is significant that this work chronicling the Haitian insurrection and the bloody excesses of Dessalines should be published in a country that was under the yoke of Spanish colonial rule. There are a series of portraits of the leaders of the revolution: Toussaint, Christophe, Dessalines and Biasou. But there are as well, graphic illustrations showing executions, decapitations, and dismemberment, with scenes of murdered babies. There is no doubt that the colonial powers of Europe feared the fever of insurrection might spread to other areas of the New World. The author had written a "Vie de Toussaint L'Ouverture" (Paris, 1802) and was employed by Bonaparte to mount a propaganda war against the Haitian "rebels." Sabin 21029 (Paris 1804 edition.)
