Stedman J Capt (6 results)

Original Cloth. Condition: VG+. Slipcase. First Edition This Publisher. Two volume set with minor stain to paper label of Vol I. Limited edition. Signed by editor in Vol. II. Signed by Editor. Book.

elucidating that country and describing its productions. With an account of Indians of Guiana and negroes of Guinea. Newly edited and abridged by C. Bryant. London: The Folio Soc. 1963. Roy.8vo. Or.illust.cl. X240pp. With frontisp. 11 full-page illusts. and end-paper maps. In its original slip-case. Fine. …

Leather. Condition: Very Good. First edition. Captain John Gabriel Stedman's strikingly illustrated first-hand account of his deployment to the Dutch-controlled colony of Surinam. First edition. A deluxe large paper first edition with hand-coloured plates was published in the same year. Volume 2 only.Rebacked in full calf, with personal coat of arms blind-stamped to the front board. Renewed endpapers. No half title, as issued. Bound with index, binder's directions and errata leaves to the rear.Stedman's first-hand account of an eighteenth-century Dutch colony, including graphic accounts of the worlds of both masters and slaves. It also contains vivid descriptions of the landscapes of Suriname, paying great attention to flora, fauna, and the social habits of indigenous, free and enslaved Africans, and European colonists.Volume II is illustrated with an engraved title page, thirty-nine striking engraved plates and a folding map. Collated, lacking plate facing p. 142.Johnson commissioned William Blake and Francesco Bartolozzi to create engravings for the work and, through their collaboration, Blake and Stedman became close friends.Published by radical figure Joseph Johnson, Stedman's Narrative became a major literary success and was eventually published in more than twenty-five different editions.Stedmandescribesthe"cruelties practiced ontheNegroes,andthemoral deterioration resulting totheir masters" which "forms oneofthemost vivid indictmentsofslavery that have been penned" (ODNB). Rebacked in full blind-stamped calf, with spine replaced. With coat of arms to the front board matching bookplate to the front paste down. Externally, with mild rubbing to the extremities. Armorial unnamed bookplate to the front paste down. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are marginally toned, with a few scattered spots, generally more to the plates but illustrations remain pleasing overall and largely unaffected. Bookplate of one Tess M Hope to the front free endpaper. Very Good. John Gabriel Stedman (illustrator). book.…

Reptiles, Trees, Shrubs, Fruits, & Roots; With an account of the Indians of Guiana and Negroes of Guinea. .2 vols. Massachusetts: The Imprint Society, 1971. Small 4to. Orig. quarter buckram with marbled boards and printed paper titling labels on spines. In slip-case. With 80 plates most of which are full-page, including some fold. charts. Title-page in red/black ink. Fine and complete. Limited Edition.…

elucidating the History of that Country and describing its Productions, Viz. Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Trees, Shrubs, Fruits and Roots; with an account of the Indians of Guiana, and Negroes of Guinea. Second, corrected, edition. 2 volumes. 74 plates (1 extending) by William Blake, Bartolozzi et al, 2 plans and 3 extending maps, all with contemporary hand colouring. Lacks the plate at page 196 in the second volume ('Indian Female of the Arrowouka Nation'). 4to. A couple of plates with minor repairs to verso, and one with marginal tear. Contemporary calf, somewhat rubbed and scuffed, with an early rebacking to the first volume (this a little frayed at head of spine) and with a later rebacking to the second volume which has also had some repair to the fore-corners. Fore-corners of the first volume a little bumped and rubbed. xviii, 423, 4[index]; (ii), iv, 419, [5 index]pp. London, J. Johnson, Stedman's book has been of vital importance as it is "one of the most detailed descriptions ever written of an eighteenth-century slave plantation society" (ODNB). His "intimate dealings with members of all social classes, from the governor and the wealthiest planters to the most oppressed slaves and maroon rebels, gave him unique opportunities to describe the full panorama of colonial life-the mistreatment of slaves by sadistic masters, the courage of the rebels in battle, the daily lives of Indian and African slaves, and exotic flora and fauna" (ibid). These insights into the harsh reality of the slave trade lead the book to be regarded as an important tool for early abolitionist causes. Interestingly, however, it is now known that this first edition "in fact represented a significantly altered version of the manuscript Stedman had submitted to his publisher, Joseph Johnson, in 1790. For unbeknown to the author, Johnson had passed the manuscript to William Thomson, a professional editor and ghost writer" (ibid) who was hired to rewrite the original manuscript entirely. Upon seeing this heavily edited version, Stedman commented that it was "mard intirely" and "full of lies and nonsense" (Stedman's diary, 24 June, 1975). It is claimed that Stedman exploded in anger and burned two thousand copies. This first edition "distorted Stedman's views on race, slavery, and social justice, and turned them more towards a pro-slavery position" (ibid).   His view on slavery is, however, a complicated one and has been subject to much scholarly debate. Despite the highly sympathetic sections withheld from the 1796 first edition such as "his admiration for Africans-their institutions, morals, hygiene-including the rebel slaves; his frank depiction of sex between European men and African women; and many of his remarks about the pervasiveness of misconduct and debauchery of European planters" (ibid), Stedman himself was far from an abolitionist. For instance, in 1792 Stedman refused to sign a popular petition against the slave trade. Stedman seemed to concede that Britain's tropical colonies could not be cultivated and maintained without slave labour, being content in the end to propose modest political and legal reformations to the slave trade. Stedman's love affair with the Joanna, an enslaved mulatto woman with whom he had a son, further complicates his views towards slavery. Nevertheless, Stedman's account of his time spent in Surinam "had significant contemporary impact. Upon its publication the Critical Review observed that "we have never opened any work which is so admirably calculated to excite the most heart-felt abhorrence and detestation of that grossest assault on human nature-domestic slavery."   Stedman's wonderfully illustrative account of the reality of eighteenth-century slave plantations has been brought to life in this volume by plates illustrated by William Blake, Francesco Bartolozzi, and others based on Stedman's original drawings and watercolours. Blake, who was responsible for sixteen plates in this edition that "have long b. …

Second edition, two volumes bound in one, 4to, xviii, 423, (5), iv, 419, (5) pp. Engraved title pages and 81 plates, including 3 folding maps and a folding view, the latter and one of the maps with a closed tear to a fold crease, frontispiece and volume I title with contemporary signatures and light damp stains to the top and bottom edges, some foxing throughout, volume I title cut close to the lower edge with partial loss of the imprint. Contemporary diced calf, corners worn, neatly rebacked. ".one of the most detailed descriptions ever written of an eighteenth-century slave plantation society. The heavily edited first edition distorted Stedman's views on race, slavery, and social justice, and turned them more towards a pro-slavery position. Softened or deleted in the 1796 publication were his admiration for Africanstheir institutions, morals, hygieneincluding the rebel slaves; his frank depiction of sex between European men and African women; and many of his remarks about the pervasiveness of misconduct and debauchery of European planters. Nonetheless, the Narrative had significant contemporary impact." (ODNB). 16 of the plates were engraved by William Blake, whose name also appears on the Subscriber's List. Bentley 499B.…