SNELGRAVE, Guillaume - Lot 149

SNELGRAVE, Guillaume New relation of some places in Guinea and the slave trade there. Amsterdam, Aux dépens de la Compagnie, 1735. In-12 (159 x 92 mm) of 12 ff.n.ch., 348 pp. and an engraved folding map. Marbled calf, spine ribbed and decorated, red edges (contemporary binding). Sabin, 85381; Gay, 2824; Boucher de la Richardière, IV, 145. First French edition, published one year after the English original and translated by de Coulange. Astonishing testimony of an English captain who practiced the slave trade. A fervent defender of the trade, Snelgrave tries, in a terrible introduction, to prove that this "trade has nothing illicit" and that in 13 years, from 1712 to 1725, "to the great advantage of our colonies in America... from 33 ships we have passed to 200". He recounts "the way in which the Negroes become slaves", the number transported per year from Guinea to America, the revolts on board, etc. The author was himself taken prisoner by pirates. "The opponents of this trade are not very grateful to him for the instructions he left on this point... He witnessed the victories won by the king of Dahome, one of the cantons of Guinea, against the king of Juida" (Boucher de la Richardière). A good copy, with a small crack at the upper jaw for 3 cm; upper margin of the title partly cut without affecting the text. Bookplate pasted on the title: M. L. de Lapeyrouse de Bonfils.