Wardstrom Carl Bernhard Plan and Section of a Slave Ship

Sale 1998 - Lot 55

Unsold

Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500

EXCEPTIONAL ENGRAVING OF A SLAVE-SHIP Wardstrom, Carl Bernhard. Plan and Section of a Slave Ship. Large engraved diagram of the hold of a slave-ship from An Essay on Colonization, particularly applied to the Western Coast of Africa, 203/4x263/4 inches; some professional archival repairs to the margins, several repairs at intersecting folds; matted and framed. [London, 1794]

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Additional Details

An uncommon variant of the familiar 18th-century slave-ship diagram appearing in several abolitionist works. The model for these engravings was the slave-ship Brooke. The present engraving, while taken from the Brooke model, is different. Not only does it depict the familiar cut-away view of the hold of the slave-ship with the people literally stacked like cordwood, but also bears an extra engraving titled "Representaion of an Insurrection on board a Slave Ship." The entire engraving is equally divided vertically into two halves. On the left, the diagram of the hold and the smaller engraving; and on the right the key to the various sections of the diagram and the text explaining the manner in which the slaves were captured and transported to the coast for sale. A rare image in any variation, the present is a particularly striking version.