Testimony offered in parliamentary debates on the abolition of the slave trade: 4 Volumes of Abridgment of the Minutes of the Evidence . . . to Consider of the Slave Trade, 1789-1790.

Slavery and Abolition, Parliament

Book

[SLAVERY & ABOLITION] Abridgment of the Minutes of the Evidence, Taken Before a Committee of the Whole House, To Whom It Was Referred To Consider of the Slave-Trade. London, 1789-1791. First Edition, First Printing. Only one other complete set traced at auction since 1964. 4 volumes in 2 books. [2], 82; [2], 246; [2], 157; [2], 163 pages, with folding table in the 4th volume. Matched contemporary marbled quarter calf. Modern bookplates on front pastedowns. As issued, no dust jacket. Octavo. Offers multiple first-hand accounts and testimonies from Parliament on the abolition of the slave trade, abuse faced by enslaved persons on plantations, and more. Out of the 12.5 million Africans loaded onto 35,000 ships by American and European slave traders, very few enslaved people left accounts of their horrific ordeals. As a result, most accounts were from their captors, owners, physicians, and other various witnesses. Through these distressing accounts from slave owners, slave traders, physicians for enslaved persons, eyewitness observers, and various participants, one will encounter the darker truths and horrors that encapsulated the slave trade. In a harrowing account by a surgeon named Alex Falconbridge, he reveals that he "Has known several [enslaved persons to] refuse sustenance with a design to starve themselves...refusing to take medicines when sick, because they wished to die...Many other slaves expressed the same" (vol. 1, pp. 229). A similar account from Dr. Thomas Trotter, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, conveys a heart wrenching narrative, revealing that "Slaves, on being brought on board, showed signs of extreme distress and despair, from a feeling of their situation, and regret at being torn for friends and connections" (vol. 3, pp. 37). Moderate wear, lacking most of spine titles with one faintly reading "Evidence of the Slave Trade", and foxing mainly to title pages. Text is not affected. In very good condition. Sabin 81736-8.

Item #18710

Price: $1,850.00