(SURINAME) Stedman John Gabriel Narrative of a Five Years Ex

Sale 2380 - Lot 356

Price Realized: $ 2,125

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

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

(SURINAME.) Stedman, John Gabriel. Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. 81 maps and plates, some engraved by William Blake, plus engraved title pages. xviii, 407, [7]; iv, 404, [7] pages. 2 volumes. 4to, unsightly modern buckram, moderate wear; dampstaining, worming (mostly to endpapers and the inner margins of a few leaves), 4 leaves of first volume detached. London, 1796

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

first edition of an important slave rebellion narrative. Stedman was a British officer in the Dutch army, sent on an expedition against the Maroons who had escaped slavery and taken up arms against the Dutch colonists in Suriname. He soon grows disgusted with his Dutch commander and the brutal treatment of slaves and rebels. He also grows increasingly sympathetic to the culture he was sent to repress, and fathers a child by an enslaved woman who he attempts to bring back to England. Stedman closes with an allegorical engraving of "Europe Supported by Africa & America," explaining that "we only differ in colour, but are certainly all created by the same Hand" (page 395). The narrative was quickly adopted as an abolitionist classic. Thirteen of the engravings, some depicting brutal torture scenes, are by William Blake. The book is also a notable work of natural history. Abbey Travel 719; Sabin 91075.