Slave Document - Slavery - Bauman Rare Books

Slave Document

SLAVERY

Item#: 72581 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Slave Document

EXTRAORDINARY 1808 DOCUMENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE, ACCOUNT OF SLAVES PURCHASED IN AFRICA, ENTIRELY IN MANUSCRIPT, LISTING THE SALE OF NEARLY 30 AFRICANS SOLD INTO SLAVERY

(SLAVERY). Account of Slaves Purchased in Africa. April 17, 1807. No place, 1808. Single leaf (9-1/2 by 14 inches; 9-1/2 by 7 inches folded), manuscript hand on recto.

Rare 1808 document of the slave trade, entirely in manuscript hand, with entries for the sale of nearly 30 Africans, both men and women, sold into slavery on April 17, 1807, and documenting the first names of the likely slave traders above a concluding date of February 20, 1808, likely on the brig Columbia out of Rhode Island.

This rare document, recording the sale of nearly 30 Africans into slavery, is dated 1808, the same year Congress prohibited the importation of slaves yet also saw many “looking to the Senate to admit new slave states” (Thomas, Slave Trade, 546). Although its origin is unstated, this likely records a slave trade on board the Brig Columbia, based in Rhode Island and captained by William Lindsey, which departed for Africa in February 1807 and would have been on the African coast near the date of the sale that April. Written entirely in manuscript hand, the title reads “Account of the Slaves Purchased in Africa” and is dated “April 17th, 1807.” The entries on the right recto, in two columns, consist of a single line for each person and a sale price. Among the listings are those that read: “By the pirches {sic] of one prime slave Charles M. King, 150,” “By J. —don [illegible] at bassam [Ivory Coast?] good for 10 prime slaves, 150,” and “By one prime woman from Bob Willson, 140.” The document continues to the left recto half with three lines: “William——2, Maseys——2, Charles Bowrig—-2,” and ends with “Wm Bigfoot Cairn on Board at 2 p.m. February 20, 1808.” This last entry is believed to note the ship’s arrival at its destination.

Script quite clear, light edge-wear, faint discoloration at foldline. An exceptional historical document in extremely good condition.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
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