The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament

Thomas Clarkson

Published by R. Taylor and Co, London, 1808

About this Item

Thomas Clarkson's influential history of the Abolitionist movement CLARKSON, THOMAS The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1808. First edition. Two volumes, quarter calf over marbled boards, spine gilt with ship motif, 8 3/8 x 5 1/4 inches (21.25 x 13.25 cm.) [iv], 572; [ii], 592 pp., three plates. Bindings rubbed. Some repairs to the top of the upper joint on the first volume and to the tops of both joints on the second volume. Large folding plate of the interior of a slave ship has been misfolded and has several seam repairs but is entirely intact. An early signature has been clipped from the upper right corner of each title page. Signature of R. Andrew Mather dated 1837 on the title page of each volume. Some thumbsoiling and spotting throughout each volume, but the text is overall clean. This is the best work on the history of the Abolitionist movement that led to the end of slavery in Britain and its colonies, and it is replete with extraordinary and disquieting anecdotes. The three plates include the engraving of the cross-section and plan of a slave ship, which, as Clarksonwrites, made "an instantaneous impression of horror upon all who saw it." While at Oxford studying to become a clergyman, he wrote a prizewinning essay on slavery, and subsequently had a moment of conversion when "a thought came into my mind, that if the contents of the Essay were true, it was time some person should see these calamities to their end." Although his efforts undermined his health and fortune, in time he became a figure of enormous moral influence in Abolitionist circles, and he ranks with Wilberforce as an architect of the act abolishing slavery in the British empire that was ultimately passed in 1833. .

Seller Inventory # 1027

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament
• Publisher: R. Taylor and Co, London
• Publication Date: 1808
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: VG
• Seller catalogs:
  • Slavery & Abolition
  • History