Candid and impartial Considerations on the Nature of the Sugar Trade; the comparative importance of the British and French islands in the West-Indies: with the value and consequence of St. Lucia and Granada, truly stated. Illustrated with copper plates. [Bound with:] MARTIN, Samuel. An Essay upon Plantership, humbly inscribed to His Excellency George Thomas, Esq; chief governor of all the Leeward Islands, as a monument to ancient friendship. The fourth edition, with many additions from experiments made since the last edition. Antigua: Printed by Samuel Clapham, London: Reprinted for A. Millar, 1765.

SLAVERY - CAMPBELL, John.

Edité par London: R. Baldwin, 1763

A propos de cet article

First edition of the first-named, fourth of the second which was first published in Antigua, 1750 under the pseudonym of "An Old Planter". John Campbell (1708-1775), was a highly successful historian and miscellaneous author, Johnson thought well of him and praised the usefulness of his knowledge, also describing him as "the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature" (ODNB). The present work was commissioned by Lord Bute to rebut criticism of the Treaty of Paris by demonstrating "the value of colonial holdings in general and of sugar islands in particular" (Ragatz). That is was felt to have done its job is perhaps confirmed by Campbell's appointment in 1765 as king's agent to Georgia. Considered by Ragatz to be a "classic of in the field of colonial and Caribbean literature, embodying as it does one of the clearest statements of eighteenth-century philosophy regarding the relations that should exist between the metropole and its outlying possessions". This copy has additional material bound in: Bew's map of St Christopher's, a 2-page manuscript index, and bound at the rear a copy of Martin's practical essay on plantation management. Samuel Martin (1694/5-1776) had been born on Antigua, but spent some considerable time thereafter in Britain, on his full-time return to the island he found the family estates much run down and "embarked on a rigourous policy of reconstruction. Although he helped to pioneer improvements at most of the key stages in sugar-making and rum distillation his interests focused mainly on the non-manufacturing side of production. He was a firm advocate of crop rotation followed by marling, in order to improve soil fertility. He was also instrumental in developing more effective systems of drainage and utilising windmills rather than animals for crushing the cane. By the standards of his contemporaries Martin was an enlightened slave owner. He advocated the provision of adequate supplies of food, clothing, shelter, and medical facilities for slaves, and ground for the cultivation of their own food" (ODNB). His methods made him Antigua's leading and most progressive planter, and during his own lifetime he certainly "succeeded in making sugar production a moderately profitable enterprise on his own estates". Both titles are moderately well-represented institutionally, but neither appear with any great frequency at auction, just a handful of copies of Campbell in the last fifty years, and no copy of the Essay upon Plantership, in any edition, has passed through the rooms since 1951. Campbell: ESTC T65879; Ragatz p. 284; Kress 6081; Sabin 10232. Martin: ESTC T81835; Sabin 44920 Two works bound in a single vol., octavo (196 x 120 mm). Both bound without half-titles. 4 folding maps to the first-named, 3 as called for; Caribbee Islands and Guyanna, coloured in outline; The Harbour of Calivenie. Island of Grenada. Drawn by John Powell Topographer; and Plan of Fort Royal in the Island of Grenada, and additionally a map of St. Christophers by J. Bew dated 1782, coloured. Contemporary streaked calf, flat spine ruled gilt, red morocco label, single gilt rule to board edges, Dahlia marbled endpapers. A little rubbed, particularly on the joints, label chipped, no loss of lettering, corners through, small patch of insect damage to the lower board, pastedowns lifting at the lower corners, front free endpaper torn without loss, slight erosion at the lower corner of the text-block for the first thirty pages or so, mild worming to the fore-margin pp. 39-176, some small splits and closed tears to the maps, no losses; overall very good.

N° de réf. du vendeur 132583

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Candid and impartial Considerations on the Nature of the Sugar Trade; the comparative importance of the British and French islands in the West-Indies: with the value and consequence of St. Lucia and Granada, truly stated. Illustrated with copper plates. [Bound with:] MARTIN, Samuel. An Essay upon Plantership, humbly inscribed to His Excellency George Thomas, Esq; chief governor of all the Leeward Islands, as a monument to ancient friendship. The fourth edition, with many additions from ...
• Éditeur: London: R. Baldwin, 1763
• Édition: Edition originale