“FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE”: FIRST EDITION OF THIS MAJOR 19TH-CENTURY FOLIO COLLECTION OF 19 OFFICIAL TREATIES ON ABOLISHING THE SLAVE TRADE
(PARLIAMENT). Nineteen Treaties and Documents on the Slave Trade. London: Harrison and Sons, et al., 1841-1886. Folio, contemporary three-quarter polished brown calf, red and green morocco spine labels, marbled boards. Laid-in Correspondence Respecting Treaty of December 17, 1885, original self-wrappers, contemporary stitching.
First edition of this major 19th assemblage of official printings of treaties and pivotal documents signed by Britain, Portugal, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Muscat, France and other nations in “the hope of bringing the slave trade to an end” (Hugh Thomas), this handsome folio volume from the library of the British Vice-Consulate in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Throughout the 18th century British merchants “had been the greatest of slave traders… In the 19th, however, their government embarked upon a crusade to destroy that very commerce” (Thomas, 591). Yet that goal was hampered by fierce discord, rising profits in sugar and cotton, and objections by the United States and others who saw this as another grasp at control over the high seas. “It became obvious that abolition could only be achieved if a [British] naval force was supported by diplomacy; and what seemed to be several achievements of this kind were soon registered.” This volume, with its official printings of 19 treaties and documents from 1822-1886, is a rare record of those pivotal beginnings. Here is “the system of international law which Britain sought to inspire, and with which some other nations collaborated without enthusiasm, in the hope of bringing the slave trade to an end.” As noted by historian Hugh Thomas, there were key lessons in these “treaties with three potentates in East Africa, the king of Eastern Madagascar, the sultan of Zanzibar, and the imam of Muscat… [For] the African side of the Atlantic slave trade had changed in the 19th century almost as much as the American and European” (Slave Trade, 651-79).
Pamphlets in this volume:
*Convention Between Her Majesty and the King of the French, for the Suppression of the Traffic in Slaves. Signed at London, May 29, 1845. (London): [1845].
*Slave Trade. No. 3 (1874). Engagement of the Sultan of Johanna as to Protection to be Afforded to Immigrants in the Island of Johanna. Signed at Johanna, March 8, 1873. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1874. London: Harrison and Sons, [1874].
*Slave Trade. No. 6 (1883). Convention between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Johanna for the Suppression of Slavery and the Slave Trade. Signed at Bambao, October 10, 1882. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1883. London: Harrison and Sons, [1883].
*Slave Trade. No. 4 (1874).Engagement of the Nukeeb of Maculla for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in His Dominions. Signed at Maculla, April 7, 1873. Presentd to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1874. London: Harrison and Sons, [1874].
*Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Commerce, between Her Majesty and the Queen of Madagascar. Signed… at Antananarivo, June 27, 1865. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1867. London: Harrison and Sons, [1867].
*Africa. No. 4 (1883). Treaty Concluded between France and Madagascar on the 8th Day of August, 1868. Presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty, in pursuance of their Address dated April 12, 1883. London: Harrison and Sons, [1883].
*Commercial. No. 5 (1883). (Madagascar.) Declaration between the Governments of Great Britain and Madagascar Amending Article V of the Treaty of the 27th June, 1865. Signed… at London, February 16, 1883. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1883. London: Harrison and Sons, [1883].
*Commercial. No. 19 (1883). (Madagascar.) Agreement between the Governments of Great Britain and Madagascar for Regulating the Traffic in Spiritous Liquors. Signed… at London, May 25, 1883. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, 1883. London: Printed by Harrison and Sons, [1883].
*Slave Trade. No. 5 (1883). Convention between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Mohilla for the Suppression of Slavery and the Slave Trade. Signed at Doani, October 24, 1882. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1883. London: Harrison and Sons, [1883].
*Slave Trade. Treaty between Great Britain and Muscat. Concluded at Muscat, September 10, 1822. London: T.R. Harrison, [1842].
*Convention of Commerce between Her Majesty and His Highness the Imaum of Muscat, Signed at Zanzibar, May 31, 1839. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, 1841. London: T.R. Harrison, [1841].
*Slave Trade. No. 1 (1874). Treaty between her Majesty and the Sultan of Muscat for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Signed at Muscat, April 14, 1873. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1874. London: Harrison and Sons, [1874].
*Treaty between Her Majesty and the Queen of Portugal, for the Suppression of the Traffick in Slaves. Signed at Lisbon, July 3, 1842. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty, 1842. London: T.R. Harrison, [1842].
*Additional Article to the Treaty Concluded at Lisbon, July 3, 1842, between her Majesty and the Queen of Portugal, for the Suppression of the Traffic in Slaves. Signed at Lisbon, October 22, 1842. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, 1843. London: T.R. Harrison, [1843].
*Convention between Her Majesty and the King of Portugal, Additional to the Treaty Signed at Lisbon, July 3, 1842, for the Suppression of the Traffic in Slaves. Signed at London, July 18, 1871. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1872. London: Harrison and Sons, [1872].
*Slave Trade. No. 6 (1874). Engagement of the Jemadar of Shuhr for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in His Dominions. Signed at Shuhr, November 17, 1873. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1874. London: Harrison and Sons, [1874].
*Slave Trade. No. 2 (1874). Treaty between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Zanzibar for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. Signed at Zanzibar, June 5, 1873. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1874. London: Harrison and Sons, [1874].
*Zanzibar. No. 1 (1876). Treaty between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Zanzibar, Supplementary to the Treaty for the Suppression of the Slave Trade of June 5, 1873. Signed at London, July 14, 1875. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1876. London: Harrison and Sons, [1876].
*Africa. No. 2 (1886). Correspondence Respecting Treaty of December 17, 1885, between France and Madagascar. Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. March 1886. London: Harrison and Sons, [1886]. Documents in English, French, Portuguese. Century of Diplomatic Blue Books. Offical inkstamps of the British Vice-Consulate in Antananarivo. Minor inked marginalia to one treaty.
Text with lightest scattered foxing, tiny closed tear at upper gutter edge of first text leaf, slight edge-wear, rubbing to contemporary boards. An important near-fine volume in the history of slavery.