The Hope of Liberty, Containing A Number of Poetical Pieces; The Vision, and Other Poems, in Blank Verse, by John Boyd, a Man of Colour; A Narrative of Events Since the First of August, 1834, by James Williams, an Apprenticed Labourer in Jamacia; Narrative of Henry Watson, a Fugitive Slave; Life and Adventures of James Williams, a Fugitive Slave, With a Full Description of the Underground Railroad

Facsimile reprints of five early 19th century publications written by people of colour regarding experiences of slavery and forced labour in Jamaica, the Bahamas and the American South.  Dark blue cloth-covered boards with gilt titles on the spine.  8vo.  Cloth just gently rubbed at corners and spine ends.  An ex university library copy with call number taped over spine, usual markings on front endpapers, annotations and stamps on the contents list and following two pages, else internally neat, clean, bright and tight.  

The Hope of Liberty (1829), a collection of protest poetry, made Horton the first African American to publish a book in the South, and one of the first to publicly protest his slavery in poetry; John Boyd was a free person of colour n the Bahamas – his Vision and Other Poems (1834) may have been the first book published by a native born black person in the Bahamas.  James Williams Narrative of Events was one of the very few autobiographical texts by a Carribbean who had first hand experience of slavery, and was influential in the transatlantic campaign for the abolition of slavery; Henry Watson’s slave narrative, Narrative of Henry James, a Fugitive Slave recounts his reflections of experience of slavery and, although in the typical polemic style, unusually recounts self-doubt rather than heroism.