Opmaak 1 - Gert Jan Bestebreurtje

161 STEDMAN, John Gabriel. 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: elucidating the history of that country, and describing its productions
.. with an account of the Indians .. & negroes of Guinea. 2nd edition, corrected.
London, J. Johnson, 1806.
2 volumes. 4to. Later half calf (Edmund LLoyd Harley), spines gilt in compartments,
with green morocco title labels to spines. With aquatint frontispiece, engraved
vignettes on titles, 3 folding maps and 77 aquatint plates (including a large folding
view of Paramaribo) by William Blake, Francesco Bartolozzi, a.o. (foxed as usual).
XVIII,423,(4); IV,419,(5) pp. € 3.850,00
First published in 1796, it has gone through more than twenty editions in six languages;
with armorial bookplate of Anthony Wilkinson. - Captain John Gabriel
Stedman, an officer in the Scots Brigade in Holland, volunteered for service against
the negroes in Dutch Guiana. While out there he to all intents married the subject of
plate 8, Joanna, a Mulatto, and had a son by her, who became a midshipsman in the
British Navy, but died young. ' While he did his duty as a soldier .. he does not disguise
his sympathy with the rebels .. His description of the cruelties practised on the
negroes, and of the moral deterioration resulting to their masters, forms one of the
most vivid indictments of slavery that have ever been penned' (DNB). Stedman
(1744-1797), a keen observer living for more than four years in the colony of
Surinam, derives much of what he reports from first-hand observation, but even his
reports of hearsay represent key primary data, in that they disclose rich details about
everyday plantation discourse. The text consists of the romance with Joanna and his
efforts to gain her freedom, the military campaigns against the rebel slaves, his relations
with other soldiers, particularly his commanding officer, Fourgeoud, the description
and investigation of exotic flora and fauna, the description of Amerindian
and African slave life, and most important, the description and analysis of relations
between planters and slaves. The engravings show the habitations of both the natives
and the Europeans, local flora and fauna, ships, forts, tools, battle plans, and map of
the erea. - A first-hand account of an eighteenth-century slave society. - Apart from
stains on the plates due to the quality of the paper, a fine copy.
Sabin 91075; Abbey, Travel, 719; Cox II, p.285; Suriname-catalogus UB Amsterdam
6452. – See illustration.