Philadelphia: Published by James P. Parke / Merritt, Printer, 1817.
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Hardcover. First edition. 12mo. [8], 136pp. Lacking the front board and frontispiece, rear board detached but present, paper age toned, spine cracked and worn, some shallow chipping affecting a couple of letters of the inscription, good plus and with a curious sketch of a man on the rear pastedown. Housed in a half morocco clamshell case. The memoir of Anthony Benezet, the abolitionist who founded one of the earliest antislavery societies in the world, in Philadelphia in 1775. Inscribed by the author to Prince Saunders on the title page: "Prince Saunders with the Author's respect."
Born in New England, Saunders was an African-American scholar who went to England, where he met William Wilberforce who encouraged him to go to Haiti, where he met Haitian Emperor Christophe. "Polished and witty, he became a confidant of Christophe, vaccinated his children, and was entrusted by him with an embassy to England. Saunders was impressed with the black king and his black kingdom. To express this feeling he edited the *Haytian Papers*, a translation and commentary of the Code Henri... In 1818 Saunders came to Philadelphia... and made the acquaintance of the Philadelphia anti-slavery leaders.” LCP, *Negro History 1553-1903* #74 (being an 1822 ALS to Vaux).
Among those leaders was author Roberts Vaux, a Philadelphia-born jurist who helped found Philadelphia’s public school system and the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. His Quaker upbringing compelled his support for Native Americans, extensive work for prison reformer (Alexis de Tocqueville’s *On the Penitentiary System in the United States* is dedicated to Vaux), and abolition along with his friend Benezet.
The Library Company of Philadelphia has six works by Prince Saunders, some inscribed by him to Philadelphia abolitionists, but we have not found a single copy of any book presented to him or known to have been in his library. A marvelous association copy.
Item #362074
