The Re-Captured Negro

London and Wellington, Salop [Shropshire]: Houlston & Sons. 1833. Quarter-leather, original printed paper leather-backed boards, b&w frontis plate, pp 72. Restored, with new red leather spine and new endpapers. Pencilled gift inscription (for Jane Pierce from her affectionate father) on title page dated 25 December1851, and another, probably earlier, in ink blank endpaper. Some offsetting from the frontis title page and reverse of frontis otherwise generally clean. Boards marked and rubbed. Very good condition. Early printing of abolitionist children's book by the wife of a British naval officer who had visited Africa. It tells the story of 'Dazee', who is kidnapped from his home in Sierra Leone and is put on a slave ship. The engraved frontispiece shows Dazee being captured by a British sailor. He is recued by a misionary who returns with him to Sierra Leone. Mary Martha Sherwood was a popular children's writer and has been called "one of the most significant authors of children's literature of the nineteenth century". "The Re-Captured Negro" is significant for its part in the anti-slavery movement. 9th edition. Quarter leather.