An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African...;

London: Printed by J. Phillips, and sold by T. Cadell, and J. Phillips,, 1786. Three core works in the British abolitionist movement First edition of this highly influential essay and its continuation, bound with the major anti-slavery tract that inspired Clarkson. Clarkson's Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species "was the first work in what was to be a lifetime of pamphleteering: in all he published twenty-three works, most of which dealt with slavery. The Essay had a great success and led to the creation of an informal committee to lobby MPs; its most important achievement was the recruiting of William Wilberforce, in which Clarkson played the chief part" (ODNB). It was first written in Latin for an essay prize at Cambridge University in 1785, which remained unpublished. His Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade, published two years later and further advancing the arguments, defended his proposition that an end to the slave trade would lead to Africa becoming more prosperous and consequently more viable for trade. He further notes that the trade causes great mortality among British seamen and holds that abolition will not have fatal effects on Britain and her colonies. The final work, Benezet's Historical Account of Guinea, was first published in Philadelphia in 1771 and London in 1772; this is the third edition overall. "No pamphlet inspired eighteenth-century abolitionists more than Benezet's... the work was a comprehensive indictment of the slave trade and slavery. Benezet described the cruelties of the Middle Passage and the brutal nature of slavery in the Americas, especially in the West Indies... In its plea for black equality and autonomy, Benezet's pamphlet was a truly abolitionist tract" (Sinha., pp. 23-24). Clarkson read the work while preparing his first Essay and stated the work converted him to the cause of abolition. He declared it "instrumental beyond any other work ever before published in disseminating a proper knowledge and detestation of this trade" (cited in ANB). Three works in one vol., octavo (214 x 126 mm). Early 19th-century half calf, neatly rebacked with the original spine laid down, marbled sides, brown speckled edges. Bookplate to front pastedown of Sir Robert Johnson-Eden, 5th Baronet (1774-1844). Slavery and Commerce bound without terminal advertisement leaf. A little rubbed, inner hinges repaired, light foxing to contents; very good. Clarkson: ESTC T131468 & T109751; Goldsmiths' 13279 & 13688; Kress B.1026 & B.1380; PMM 232; Sabin 13484 & 13479-80; Benezet: ESTC T100217; Sabin 4689. Manisha Sinha, The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition, 2016.