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vii, [2], 10-283 p. 18 cm. Half leather with marbled boards and endpapers. Corners and edges worn. Bookplate for Frederick L. & Maude Thomas Black on front pastedown. Binding signed by Pfister. Front endpapers loosening. One front page chipped slightly. Pages darkened with some stains throughout. Ink note at top of p. 15. Title continues: "Containing a Complete and Impartial History of the Entire Captivity of the Americans in England, From the Commencement of the Late War Between the United States and Great Britain, Until All Prisoners were released by the Treaty of Ghent. Also, A Particular Detail of All Occurrence relative to that Horrid Massacre at Dartmoor On the fatal evening of the 6th of April, 1815. The whole carefully copiled from the journal of of Charles Andrews, a prisoner in England, from the commencement of the war, until the release of all the prisoners." During the War of 1812, American Prisoners of War were kept in prison ships, after which they were taken to England and kept in prisons such as Dartmoor in Devonshire. Charles Andrews was taken prisoner early in the war and, until April 1813, confined in a prison ship in Plymouth harbour. Fearing a riot aboard ship, his captors sent him with several hundred others to Dartmoor Prison. This prison, which held 5,542 American prisoners during the war, was damp, dark, and disease-ridden; the prisoners were harshly disciplined and rationed to the point of starvation. After hostilities ended, rations became even poorer, leading the prisoners to stage a protest on April 6, 1815. Panicked guards opened fire, thus causing the "horrid massacre" that killed seven men and injured many others. Pages 252-280 contains a list of American prisoners held at various prisons in England, stating who entered British service, who died in prison, and who escaped. That this is not the original binding is indicated by, first, newer endpapers, and, second, that the binding is signed by F. J. Pfister of New York, active as a bookbinder in the 1890s and 1900s. The bookplate is that of Fred Lee Black (1891-1972), an employee of Ford Motor Company, and his first wife, Maude Thomas. Seller Inventory # 130196
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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Prisoners' Memoirs, Or, Dartmoor Prison
Publisher: Printed for the author, New York
Publication Date: 1815
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
