A VOYAGE TO THE RIVER SIERRA-LEONE, ON THE COAST OF AFRICA; Containing an Account of the Trade and Productions of the Country, and of the Civil and Religious Customs and Manners of the People; In a Series of Letters to a Friend in England. During his Residence in that Country in the Years 1785, 1786, and 1787. With an Additional Letter on the Subject of the African Slave Trade. Also a Chart of Part of the Coast of Africa, From Cape St. Ann, to the River Rionoones; with a View of the Island Bananas.
(London: Printed for B. White and Son, 1788).
FIRST EDITION. VERY RARE IN ORIGINAL PRINTER'S BOARDS UNTRIMMED. John Matthews served a a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and his service in Sierra Leone lasted for some three or more years. The letters contained in the volume touch on many subjects, the voyage from England to Africa, the geography of the coast, rivers and villages, the weather and seasons, the natural history, religion, government, law and wars of the peoples as well as reflections on the people themselves and their customs and ceremonies.
The voyage also served for the purpose of carrying on the Slave Trade and their are two extensive letters on the trade and a consideration of the abolishment of the trade. Matthews was a proponent of the slave trade and excused it as being in place long before any Western knowledge of it existed. He also held that by carrying on the trade, the lives of the slaves were made much better than if they were to remain in Africa where death and slavery were a constant reality. The author writes that he believes slavery will never be completely eliminated on the African continent and that most slaves are taken in war and battle and thus have no alternative to slavery but death. Their constant import into the West Indies served as the proof that demand remained unabated until the trade was made illegal over a number of years from the late 1700's until the end of the American Civil War. Matthews devotes particular chapters to slaving and these are enlightening reads, especially in the present day.
A very rare book in the original printer's boards. Item #70218
First Edition. Illustrated with a fine copperplate folding frontispiece showing A View of the Island of Bananas and a large folding map of the Coast of Africa fom Cape St. Ann to the River Rionoones. 8vo, bound into the printer's original blue paper covered boards, the original spine panel of gray-brown paper, with printed paper label as issued. Rare thus. iv, 183 pp. A fine, clean and untrimmed copy, as bound by the printer, page edges slightly darkened, aome expected wear to the binding, the front board weak and nearly separated from the binding, but an honest copy in original state. Very Rare Thus.