The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable. With Animadversions upon Dr. Smith's Philosophy
Philadelphia: J.M. Sanderson, 1816. [2],141,[15]pp. Contemporary paper boards over sheep. Boards worn, lower half of spine perished. Contemporary ownership inscription on front board. Front free endpaper lacking. Title page untidily trimmed. Generally light dampstaining, heavier to initial leaves; scattered foxing. Toned. In a cloth clamshell box with paper spine label. Good. Item #6480
The first edition of the most vehement and radical condemnation of slavery printed in the United States up to this point. The present work set the stage for mid-19th-century abolitionism, long before it became a popular and widespread movement. The author, George Bourne, is considered to be one of America's first radical abolitionists, who not only refused to administer communion to slave owners, but also excoriated slave-owning ministers, charging them with sacrilege. This copy comes from the library of Joseph Curtis, another early and important American abolitionist.
The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable is a landmark book, recognized as delivering some of the first public demands in the United States for, "immediate, unconditional, and universal emancipation," and demanding that, "NO compensation should be given to the planters [i.e. slave-holders]." Furthermore, public criticism of slavery in the South was almost completely unknown before Bourne, who was a resident of Virginia until just prior to the publication of this work. And yet, in the present volume, he pronounced that "the system [of slavery] is so entirely corrupt that it admits of no cure but by a total and immediate abolition. For a gradual emancipation is a virtual recognition of the right, and establishes the rectitude of the practice. If it be just for one moment, it is hallowed forever; and if it be inequitable, not a day should it be tolerated." Such pronouncements made slave holders anxious to ostracize and banish him from Virginia.
Bourne further argued, somewhat novelly for the time, that slavery was effectively "stealing," and therefore was in violation of the Eighth Commandment. In 1815 his uncompromising abolitionist views led to his expulsion from the Lexington (Virginia) Presbytery where he had been a minister. As one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Bourne was himself the object of persecution throughout his adult life. Born in England in 1780, Bourne emigrated to the U.S. in 1804, beginning his career in Baltimore as an editor and writer. Business reversals forced him to relocate to western Virginia where he became a Presbyterian minister. He was appalled by the practice of slavery, which he witnessed firsthand. As a commissioner to the General Presbyterian Assembly of 1815, he questioned whether Presbyterians who held slaves could be considered Christians. Bourne failed to convince the Assembly, but it marked the beginning of a lifelong antislavery agitation. He died in New York City in 1845 and became acknowledged as one of the pioneers of the popular American Abolitionist movement and an inspiration to important figures like Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison.
The present copy belonged to Joseph Curtis (1782-1859), an important but too-little known abolitionist who favored gradual emancipation over Bourne's demands for an immediate and unconditional end. Curtis became a member of the New York Manumission Society in 1812. His efforts to end slavery resulted in the passage of the Final Emancipation Act of 1817 by the New York State Assembly, which mandated that by the year 1827 all slaves held in bondage before 1799 would be freed. Curtis, together with fellow Manumission Society members John Murray and Thomas Addis Emmet, was singled out by the Black abolitionist William Hamilton for securing the passage of the Emancipation Act. Curtis also advocated for free education to all -- in 1804 he opened the first free school in the U.S., with "Africans" amongst its registered students. Curtis's ownership signature is located on the front board. A good copy, in original condition, with exceptional provenance. The present work is exceedingly rare -- perhaps even virtually unobtainable -- in commerce, with no copies in available auction records.
Shaw & Shoemaker 37058. Blockson 1414. Sabin 6921.
Price: $22,500.00