A much better than usual example of a rare abolitionist text.
Published simultaneously in 1846 in London and New York, it used Jamaica as both a road map toward abolition for the South and a warning of the potential maneuverings of the slave trade afterward. Jamaica had been home to some of the worst instances of British slavery, and those that Wilberforce was able to use as emblematic of the broader cruelty. It was there sugar was processed, which led to the famous sugar fasts among abolitionists, etc.
The warnings proved true. In Jamaica, the slave owners simply moved to an apprenticeship system that for all practical purposes mirrored slavery. It led to company debt, loss of rights, etc., Similarly, after emancipation in America, systems of former slave "employment" and penal-leasing proved difficult to shake.
Also includes a fascinating section, likely aimed directly at American audiences, on the positive traits of "the Negro race." The south had begun publishing works describing black races as something less than human, at times theologizing those challenges in light of the curse of Noah, etc., This work lauds many of the attributes present in African communities worthy of emulation by white westerners.
Peck, George. Jamaica: Enslaved and Free. London. Religious Tract Society. Nd. c.1846. 192pp.
Good + to very good. A bit rubbed with corners bumped. Very slightly cocked. Early neat inscription on prelims. Textually very clean. Signatures very slightly shaken, but stable and in no danger structurally.
