“ONE OF THE MOST VIGOROUS OF THE WRITINGS TO APPEAR IN THAT CONTROVERSY”: BENJAMIN LUNDY’S ANTI-SLAVERY, ANTI-TEXAS PAMPHLET, THE WAR IN TEXAS, 1837, WITH AN EARLY PRINTING OF THE FIRST MAP OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS NOT PRESENT IN THE FIRST EDITION

(TEXAS) (SLAVERY) [LUNDY, Benjamin]. The War in Texas; a Review of Facts and Circumstances, Showing that this Contest is a Crusade Against Mexico… Philadelphia: Merrihew and Gunn, 1837. Octavo, early 20th-century half red cloth and drab boards, paper spine label, patterned endpapers.

Second edition, revised and enlarged, of Lundy’s spirited anti-slavery argument protesting Texas’ aggression against Mexico, “showing that this contest is a crusade against Mexico set on foot and supported by slaveholders, land speculators, etc., in order to re-establish, extend and perpetuate the system of slavery and the slave trade,” appearing only one year after the very scarce first edition. This second edition includes a wood-engraved reproduction of a map of Texas that originally appeared in the now very scarce “Gorostiza Pamphlet” of 1836 that represents “the earliest [map] of the republic of Texas” (Howes), not present in the first edition.

Lundy (1789-1839), an ardent Quaker abolitionist, was “a pioneer in the organization of anti-slavery societies and in the publication of an anti-slavery newspaper [The Genius of Universal Emancipation], and was the most active figure in the whole movement during the twenties” (DAB). He spent years traveling in search of a location for freed slaves to settle, including areas of Texas then under control of Mexico, which led him to become a fierce opponent of Texas annexation. In this pamphlet he presents “arguments against the annexation of Texas… [It] was one of the most vigorous of the writings to appear in that controversy.” Believing the annexation movement to be led by pro-slavery forces, Lundy “doubtless supplied John Quincy Adams with much of the information concerning the Texas situation which he used so effectively in his speeches to Congress.” “Lundy’s dialectics are fortified with careful personal observations gleaned from three trips to Texas in 1832, 1833, and 1834” (Raines, 141). “First to ascribe this war to a slave-holding conspiracy” (Howes).

First published as a pamphlet in 1836, “This enlarged work first appeared in several successive numbers of the National Enquirer, a weekly anti-slavery paper” (Streeter). In this second edition the type has been entirely reset, and numerous changes and revisions occur after page 31, incorporating new material that had come to the author’s attention since the 1836 edition, such as a John Quincy Adams’ speech, abolition speeches, essays from contemporary newspapers, the Gorostiza Pamphlet (from which the map is taken), official Mexican protest against U.S. recognition of Texas independence, President Jackson’s speech, etc. The map taken from the “Gorostiza Pamphlet” is “the earliest [map] of the republic of Texas” (Howes), and is a decidedly simple, sparse rendering focusing on the eastern boundary of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico only as far west as the Neches River. It shows the conventional boundary that starts at the Mermento River and runs north to the Red River and the “Boundary with U.S. by Treaty Feb. 1819” that follows the Sabine River and then north to the Red River. Lundy raises this point to show how Texas was scheming to expand its eastern boundary. Sabin 95134. Howes L569. Streeter 1217A. Old booksellers’ descriptions, one tipped to front pastedown, one laid in.

Foxing, a bit of soiling to title page and last few pages. A near-fine copy of this important and controversial pamphlet.