"I HAD BEEN LONG ENOUGH IN AFRICA TO FIND OUT THAT WHITE MEN MADE THEMSELVES ODIOUS TO THE NATIVES AND CREATED BITTER ENEMIES": FIRST EDITION OF CAPTAIN CANOT; OR, TWENTY YEARS OF AN AFRICAN SLAVER, 1854

(CORNEAU, Theophile) MAYER, Brantz. Captain Canot; or Twenty Years of an African Slaver. Being an Account of His Career and Adventures on the Coast, in the Interior, on Shipboard, and in the West Indies. New York: D. Appleton, 1854. Octavo, original blind- and gilt-stamped black cloth. $600.

First edition of this fascinating biography of an African slaver, exposing the horrors of slavery and the complicity of those involved in it, with frontispiece, vignette title page, and plates depicting Africa and the slave trade.

Based on the life and autobiography of Theophile Courneau (here known as Captain Canot to protect his family), Captain Canot, or Twenty Years of an African Slaver offers a revealing look at the sickening life of a slave trader. "To the instructor who with difficulty gets his students of Negro History to read such a scholarly book as Dr. Du Bois' Suppression of the African Slave Trade, the life of Captain Canot [Theophile Courneau] will be a real blessing. Only the mature mind can read the scientific history. Even the high school student will follow with pleasure the picaresque adventures of Don Teodoro Canot. Indeed, so unusual is his career that some have doubted the authenticity" (Journal of Negro History). "A man without principles, without morals, without guilt, Conneau was, fortunately for the historian, also a man without reticence. Rarely has there been a villain so perfectly suited to his villainous trade" (New York Times). Sabin 47093. Blockson 9289. Faint contemporary gift inscription.

Scattered foxing and a few stains to interior, slight soiling to cloth, wear mainly to extremities, front joint repaired. A very good copy.