“HERE BEGAN THE HORRID PRACTICE OF FORCING AFRICANS INTO SLAVERY,”WITH FAMOUS FOLDING PLATE OF THE SLAVE-SHIP BROOKES, EXTRAORDINARY COPY OF CLARKSON ON THE SLAVE TRADE, FINE IN ORIGINAL BOARDS

CLARKSON, Thomas. History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament. London: Longman, et al., 1808. Two volumes. Octavo, original blue paper boards, original paper spines and printed paper labels, uncut. Housed in custom half morocco clamshell box. $11,000.

First edition of Clarkson’s classic history of the slave trade, with the famous large folding engraving of the arrangement of slaves on decks of the slave-ship Brookes according to the “humane” Dolben Bill of 1788. An extraordinary copy, uncut in original boards.

Clarkson was among a handful of fervent activists who sought to untie slave-holding from the fabric of British life. This important work soon became a vital document in the abolitionist struggles of Britain and America. Clarkson, who had devoted his life to the cause, lived to see Parliament declare slave-owing a crime, a decree that would great impact America in the Civil War by isolating the slave-owning Confederacy after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The famous folding engraved plate of slaves closely fitted on decks of the slave-ship Brookes is one of the most famous images in the history of the anti-slavery movement. The Dolben Bill of 1788 exacted a limit of the number of slaves per ship's tonnage at five slaves per three tons. Anti-slavery activists obtained the measurements of the Brookes and imposed slaves on its decks in the ratio required by the "humane" Dolben Bill with stupefying results. In 1789, William Wilberforce had a scale model of the Brookes built (with images from this plate pasted on its decks), which he presented to the House of Commons during one of his most passionate and persuasive speeches. Also with folding map and engraved plate of shackles. Rear advertisement tipped in. Sabin 13486. Kress B5319. Goldsmith 19725. McCulloch 316. Contemporary owner signatures & stamps.

Slightest occasional foxing, with single repaired tear to folding plate of slave-ship affecting corner of top image. Some light wear to original paper boards and spines, though remarkably well-preserved for such fragile bindings. An exceptional set.