Books and Manuscripts

Rare Hand-Colored Large Paper Issue of the First Edition

Stedman, John G.
Narrative, of a five years' expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; from the year 1772, to 1777...
London: Printed for J. Johnson, & J. Edwards, 1796. In two volumes. Hand-colored issue of the first edition. 4to, 11 ½ x 9 in. (290 x 227 mm) . (ii), xviii, 14, 11-30, 29-276, 275-407, (9); (ii), iv, 404, (8) pp. Illustrated with a hand-colored engraved frontispiece, two hand-colored vignette engraved title-pages, three hand-colored folding maps, and 77 hand-colored engravings (two folding, two heightened in gold) by Francesco Bartolozzi, William Blake, and others, after Stedman. Full contemporary marbled calf, stamped in gilt, rebacked, red and black morocco spine labels, stamped in gilt, extremities and boards rubbed; marbled edges; green endpapers; front gutter splitting in Vol. I at front blank; scattered toning and light to moderate foxing to text and plates, scattered minor soiling in margins of same; repaired closed tear in top edge, pp.161-166 in Vol. I; closed tear in bottom edge, pp. 167/168 in Vol. I; partially repaired closed tear in bottom edge, pp. 45/46 in Vol. II; repaired closed tear in bottom fore-edge, pp. 301/302 in Vol. II. Abbey, Travel 719; Sabin 91075; Bentley & Nurmi 408A; Bentley, Blake Books 499A; ESTC T146565

Rare deluxe hand-colored large paper issue of the first edition of Captain John G. Stedman's account of slavery and insurrection in Suriname, South America, featuring 16 engraved plates by a young William Blake. Stedman was an officer in the Scots Brigade in Holland and volunteered for service in Dutch Guiana to help suppress a slave rebellion there. He kept a journal during his travels from 1773-77 that formed the basis of the present work. His eyewitness account documents Suriname and Guiana at the end of the 18th century, recording the region's flora, fauna, animal life, natural history, accounts of the region's Indigenous communities, as well as its social and economic conditions. Upon its publication Stedman's firsthand account of slavery and the slave rebellion provoked a public outcry and, although Stedman himself was not an abolitionist, his work became a significant tool in campaigns to abolish slavery and the slave trade.

William Blake met Stedman through the publisher John Johnson and was recruited to provide engravings for the work from Stedman's designs. Blake executed 40 engravings for Stedman, 16 of which were published, and they remained friends thereafter. It is believed that Stedman's narrative of the slave rebellion and its brutal suppression influenced Blake's own anti-slavery position.

Rare. ESTC locates only seven institutions with hand-colored issues, and this is only the second hand-colored issue offered at auction in the past 10 years.