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THOMAS, HUGH: : THE SLAVE TRADE - THE HISTORY OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE 1440-1870

LONDON.PICADOR,1997.

ISBN 033035437X.

UK,thick 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn,no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,clean,brown+black with white lettering illustrated dw/dj [showing stowage of slaves on the Brookes slaver of Liverpool,as reported by Cptn Pawey],with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Head of spine/backstrip minisculely bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and near pristine.Bright,clean,publisher's original,plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip,headband and immaculate brown+white illustrated endpapers (design repeated from dw/dj).Thick,heavy 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,8-925pp [paginated] includes author introduction,double-page b/w Atlantic Slave Trade map,32pp of contemporary b/w illus/plates/photographs, in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp192/3, pp416/7,pp576/7 and pp736/7 respectively, Books 1-6 - comprising 36 chapters,an epilogue,appendices(5),bibliographical note,notes,an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,b/w illus/plt frntis,content list/table and 2pp blanks at rear. The Atlantic Slave Trade was one of the largest and most elaborate maritime and commercial ventures.Between 1492 and about 1870 ten million or more black slaves were carried from Africa to one port or another of the Americas.They were taken to work on tobacco,sugar,coffee and cotton plantations,in gold and silver mines,in rice fields or in houses as servants.The shippers were,in order of scale,the Portuguese (or Brazilians),the English,the French,the Dutch,the Spaniards and the North Americans.At the height of the traffic,in the 1780's,the English and French were both carrying about forty thousand slaves a year.These captives were usually procured by barter with African monarchs or merchants,established on the estuaries of nearly all the great African rivers which flow into the Atlantic.The goods exchanged for slaves were textiles, copper or iron bars,guns,drink (wine,brandy and rum),cowrie shells and a vast number of nondescript objects such as beads,hats, shaving bowls and knives. Hundreds of thousands of Africans participated in the trade,but especially the kings in Ashanti, Dahomey, Benin, Loango, Congo and Angola.Mozambique and Madagascar also contributed their thousands of prisoners to the European boats. This wide-ranging new book by Hugh Thomas, known for his work on the Spanish Civil War,the history of Cuba and the conquest of Mexico,discusses this extraordinary commerce from its earliest days under the Portuguese until its conclusion at the time of the American Civil War.The book also discusses the movement for abolition whose roots are explored among the British and North American Quakers,the French philosophers and a few enlightened Catholic priests.He devotes special attention to the major traders in slaves in Europe and,in the illegal days,to such curious individuals as Felix de Sousa,the Brazilian established in Dahomey,and Julian Zulueta,the last 'great' slave merchant in Cuba.It has been well said that a grain of sugar contains all the ingredients for a history of the world;Hugh Thomas,whose 'Unfinished History of the World' has recently been reissued,shows that that title could easily be claimed for the autobiography of a black African slave.This is the first modern comprehensive history of the Atlantic slave trade and will become the definitive study of the subject. The Slave Trade is an original work of great power,insight and understanding which follows the colossal forced emigration across the centuries and draws a startling new map of the world. Please contact seller,because of the heavier weight (1.4Kg unpackaged) and the value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,thick 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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