A Letter to the Treasurer of the Society Instituted for the purpose of Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

A BARBADIAN PRIEST ADVOCATES FOR ABOLITION

First edition. 16mo. Contemporary marbled wrappers, somewhat faded, ink notation to title-page. 16pp. London, James Phillips,

The Rev. Robert Nickolls was born in Barbados and resided in North America before being appointed Dean of Middleham. In this letter, Nickolls argues that ceasing the further import of captives, in this case Barbados, would have the effect of increasing their value and reducing the debts of planters. His hopes for the abolition of the slave trade appear limited and so he argues for much better treatment of, and diet for, the enslaved workforce in the Americas as a means to improve both health and longevity. Nickolls expanded his argument in a similarly-titled work the following year.

 

This pamphlet was printed by James Phillips, who was the Quakers' official printer. He was a key figure in the early abolitionist movement. In the last years of the 1780s, he published Jameison's Sorrows of Slavery, Stanfield's A Guinea Voyage, Wadstrom's Observations on the Slave Trade, Cowper's The Negro's Complaint  and the broadside Description of a slave ship Brookes.

 

Sabin, 55238.

 

Stock Code: 243525