An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the years 1790, and 1791; on the part of the Petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave Trade

[Slavery] House of Commons

Published by Edinburgh, Printed at the Joint Expence of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Societies instituted for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1791

About this Item

Rare first Edinburgh edition, published same year as the London edition, of eye-witness testimony on the horrors of the British slave trade, containing a very early engraving of the famous large folding plate of slaves packed into the hold of the slave-ship Brookes. The famous engraving is one of the most powerful and influential images in the history of social justice and the fight to abolish slavery. It served as a gruesome test of the Britain's "humane" Slave Trade Act of 1788, also known as Dolben's Act, which limited the number of enslaved people that British slave ships could transport, based on the ships' tons burthen. Very Good. Small 8vo, bound in somewhat recent quarter calf and marbled boards, with light fading to the spine. Folding frontispiece map of the west coast of Africa in with 2 x 0.5" loss along one edge neatly restored. Large folding woodcut (16.25 x 15.5") of a slave ship based on the engraving W. Elford published in a pamphlet in London in 1789 is excellent and bright, with several repairs made to the verso mending tears. The print, now an iconic symbol of the Middle Passage, was so visually arresting that William Wilbeforce created a scale model of the Brookes, making it a central part of his presentation before the House of Commons. His abolition bill did not garner enough support to pass and it was not until 1807 that England succeeded in abolishing slavery.

Seller Inventory # 140945477

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the years 1790, and 1791; on the part of the Petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
• Publisher: Edinburgh, Printed at the Joint Expence of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Societies instituted for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
• Publication Date: 1791
• Edition: First Edinburgh Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Americana
  • Social Movements
  • History
  • African American