"...the recent Foreign Relations Ministers Conference of Non-Aligned Nations, held in Georgetown, Guyana. Reflecting the will of almost one half of the countries in the world--with a total population of more than a billion people--...concentrated its discussion on, colonialist, imperialist wars of aggression..."

"...[56]pp...Folio. Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards, marbled endpapers...Clipping from the July 15, 1797 issue of the St. James's Chronicle, or the British Evening Post laid in.

A significant account book documenting transactions with several plantations in the West Indies in the last years of (legal) slavery in the British Empire. Possibly belonging to a bookkeeper for a plantation agent/merchant, the manuscript records document debits and credits, noting trade in rum, cattle, flour, sheep, sugar, wine, lumber, oats, and even lottery tickets. There are also two slavery transactions (embedded in larger transactions), both dated July 9, 1832: '...to the sum assumed on A/c of Miss Mary Robertson for the manumission of Thomas a slave belonging to Meldrum [Estate]...assumed the sum on A/c of Miss Bess Urquhart for the freedom of her daughter Nancy...' The account also includes orders for books of magazines, including Blackwood's Magazine, Glasgow Courier, and a copy of J. W. Norie's Epitome of Practical Navigation, acquired for Daniel Polson. There are also expenses for 'repairing the clock' (July 22, 1833), 'Shoeing a horse on his fore feet' (June 24, 1834), and credit related to the 'Hurricane at Barbados' (June 25, 1832).

This book appears to have functioned as a receipt book, and it seems unlikely that it was the master record for the merchant or plantation agent to whom his bookkeeper reported. The transactions are not ordered chronologically or alphabetically. Each set of transactions are headed by a name, although it is not clear how the name is associated with the transactions listed. Finally, there are transactions with the entries 'Remitted to my Parents...' throughout, and a few transactions with entries 'Cash given you...' and 'To your order...' which seems to lack the formality or clarity expected in a ledger. Nevertheless, the hand is professional, strong, and clear through about two-thirds, at which point it changes to a smaller, tighter hand. Corrections are rare, although a few pages have partial pages pasted over previous entries.

A number of individuals and estates recur throughout the volume. As well, a few of the individuals noted are non-resident owners (or trustees or beneficiaries), with addresses in England and Scotland. Notable recurring people include: Alexander George Milne (London), John Dallas, George McLean, William Kirkland, and Simon Fraser. Many of these people owned or held shares in several different estates, sold and bought estates from each other, and were often related through marriage. Estates mentioned include: Harvey Vale, Craigston, Limlair, Beausejour, Dumfries, Belair, Grand Bay, Orange Vale, and Meldrum. The prevalence of Scottish names is due to the large number of Scottish settlers who came to the Caribbean as prospects in Scotland diminished after the Jacobite rebellion and subsequent Highland clearances.

One particularly interesting figure mentioned in the volume is Edward Gibbs, of Edward Gibbs & Co. of Grenada and London. Gibbs was a 'free man of colour' and acted as the London agent of the 'free coloured' community of Grenada. While not larger, the freed community played a significant role in the plantation economy. At the same time, it is likely that most of the owners had not forgotten that Julian Fédon, who led the slave revolt in 1795, was a 'free coloured' Grenadian (his mother was a freed slave from Martinique) who owned a substantial plantation and many slaves.

An intriguing glimpse into the plantation economy of Grenada as slavery was ending." –Description from William Reese Company

A commemorative album printed in Havana, Cuba to celebrate the Dominican Republic's centennial since it declared independence from the Republic of Haiti on February 27, 1844.

4 page document. In this letter, Mr. Bunn mentions that the Antigua claims will receive his closest attention. He also writes that he has met with Mr. Newman.

Account of American Ship "Nancy" Captured off Haiti by Indomitable French Privateer "Recontre"

2 page document. Copy of Mr. Hooper's account. This copy was sent to Matthew Christian of the island of Antigua. Mr. Hooper mentions that his annuity is in the life of his daughter Elizabeth, and son George.

1 page document. This document mentions George Hooper's annuity amount. It also lists plantations and the number of slaves on each one.

"Two manuscript appraisals of the virtually unknown Cardiff Estate in Saint Mary Parish, Tobago, valuing the land, buildings, slaves, and livestock. The 1810 document features the signatures of three appraisers, and an addendum annotation signed by attorney John Reid who requested the assessment on behalf of Messrs. ... 4 pages on a double-leaf, laid watermarked paper of T.J. Edmonds 1804, featuring the Britannia." -Voyager Press Rare Books

"This decree authorized foreign vessels to transport African slaves for sale in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, and Tobago, to meet the needs of those islands which had been abandoned by French slave traders in favor of the colony of Saint-Dominique; funds raised by the decree, which imposed a payment of 100 livres per head, were to be paid as a bonus rewarding captains of French slave trading vessels who brought slaves to the islands." –description from James Cummins, bookseller

4515 E. Assignment of a Term in a third part of Longville Estate in Clarendon, Jamaica subject to redemption. Samuel Scudamore Fleming and Mary Charlotte Fleming his wife and their trustees to Richard Green and Daniel Richards. 2 leaves of vellum joined at foot with 4 seals. Dated 22 January 1793. #4515 F. (copy of #4515 E)

"This indenture of 1814-15 records the assignment to the wealthy slave owner and politician Christopher Bethell Cordington by the trustees and grandson of Sir Peter Parker the rights to a sugar planation on Antigua called Skerretts. The document recites details concerning the history of ownership of the estate. Numbering 500 acres in the parish of St. John, it was named after owner Robert Skerrett and later became known as Clare Hall estate." –Description from Samuel Gedge, bookseller

4515 H. Description in "Jamaica Docs" folder in Drawer 7. Assignment of the residue of a term of 500 years of a third part of a plantation in Jamaica called Longville, with the Slaves and Stock therein for securing 5000 euros in interest. 7 leaves of vellum.

"Attorney Charles Baldwin reassures his client, Gelston, U.S. Collector of Customs for the Port of New York under Presidents Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, that Congress would pass a bill to pay the $130,000 court judgement against him in the case of the ship American Eagle. Eight years earlier, Gelston had seized the vessel, which was being fitted out in New York to carry arms or supplies to Alexandre Petion, first President of the Republic of Haiti, who was then locked in civil war with his rival, Henri Christophe. Gelston maintained that he was merely following orders from Washington, being told that President Madison believed the ship was being 'fitted out for illegal purposes' as defined by the 1794 Neutrality Act, which forbade any 'military expedition or enterprise,' including a 'foreign vessel,' from being 'set on foot' within U.S. territory against 'any foreign prince or state.' After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the judgment against Gelston, his only recourse was to petition Congress to appropriate funds to pay the judgment in favor of the ship's owner. Baldwin was certain that in light of the 'gross injustice' of the court judgment, Congress would appropriate the money to compensate Gelston for his legal debt. This proved to be correct. One month later, the bill passed the House of Representatives by the narrow vote of 59 to 60.

Coincidentally, it was the same month that Alexandre Petion died from yellow fever. Though none of the contemporary news reports of the American Eagle case mentioned the political complications that may have influenced the seizure of the vessel, Petion was a 'quadroon,' a free mean 'of color,' born to a wealthy French father and a mixed-race mother. Despite his exalted status in the 'Black Slave Republic,' Petion, as President, 'often showed support for the oppressed;' he seized commercial plantations from the rich gentry, redistributed land to his supporters and the peasantry, and established the foundation for a system of public education. One wonders if these principles made him unpalatable to President Madison, the wealthy slave-owner, and may have led to Washington's order to prevent the American Eagle from sailing to Petion's support.

Gelston himself had been caught in the middle of the legal muddle which ensued. He was himself a New York lawyer and politician who had served in the Continental Congress before first being appointed to the Collector's position, a powerful political plum, by President Jefferson. He remained in office for two more years after being saved by Congress from a debtor's prison, and before his death in 1828, he was considered for a seat on on the U.S. Supreme Court." –Michael Brown Rare Books

"Writing from Birmingham, 21 September 1839 the Quaker abolitionist Joseph Sturge (1793-1859), founder in 1839 of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, thanks the writer and bookseller Josiah Conder (1789-1855), editor of the Evangelical newspaper The Patriot, for reprinting extracts from the American abolitionist periodical The Emancipator. Sturge then discusses the visit to England of the Jamaican Magistrate Richard Chamberlaine, who he had met in 1837 during his tour of the West Indies: 'Chamberlaine is not a missionary but a stipendiary magis-trate, he has been at my home at the time of the association meeting...when he returns to London I will try to bring you together – he is a man of colour & never been in England before. You will I think be much pleased with him...' Sturge, occupied at this time in opposing the apprenticeship system in the Caribbean, makes reference also to the organisation of various meetings." –description from Samuel Gedge, bookseller

"Shirley, Henry. [Autograph letter signed, to Stephen Fuller in London, concerning the election of Roland Sewell as agent in England for the Jamaica Assembly and other matters concerning the island.] Kingston [Jamaica.] 16 November 1794. Autograph letter signed. 4to (19 x 22cm) [3] pages on bifolium, second leaf with marginal tear from seal opening (not touching text), verso with manuscript address panel & postal markings, old folds...[TOGETHER WITH] Taylor, Simon. [Autograph letter signed, to Stephen Fuller in London, concerning the election of Roland Sewell as agent in England for the Jamaica Assembly.]Kingston Jamaica, 13 December 1794. Autograph letter signed. 4to (20 x 24cm) [1] page on bifolium, second leaf with marginal tear from seal opening (not touching text), verso with manuscript address panel & postal markings, old folds...Sent from Jamaica to London addressed to Stephen Fuller (1716-1799), from 1764 to 1794 agent in England for the Jamaica Assembly, these two letters were penned by wealthy planters Henry Shirley II (1745-1812) and Simon Taylor (1739-1813), both supporters of Fuller writing to him after his loss of the post of agent following the appointment of Robert Sewell (1751-1828) by vote of the assembly in 1794. Taylor, one of the richest men in Jamaica (see: ODNB), explains in detail the political machinations behind the voting in of Sewell. In addition to discussion of the election Shirley provides a list of how each assembly member voted, also writing with details concerning the 'fatal pestilential fever' afflicting several parishes of Jamaica, commenting on losses to the army and navy as a result of infection and noting how plantation slaves were not affected." –Description from Samuel Gedge, bookseller

"An extensive autobiographical letter written by John Clarke, pioneer of the Baptist Missionary Society in Jamaica, Fernando Po, and the Cameroons, to his fellow missionary Rev. James Hume.

Clarke, an Englishman, sailed for Jamaica in 1829, where he worked until 1840. In response to the desire of many newly emancipated slaves to send the gospel to their native continent, he and G. K. Prince were sent by the BMS to West Africa in 1840 to explore the possibilities of a mission to the Niger. They landed on the island of Fernando Po in January 1841 and began work among the freed slave population. Rather than proceeding to the Niger, Clarke and Prince recommended that the BMS establish a mission on the island on the neighboring Cameroonian mainland. In the course of 1842 and 1843, Clarke visited Jamaica twice and England once to recruit volunteers for the new mission. In February 1844, he returned to Fernando Po with a party of forty-two Jamaican teachers and settlers. This experiment was not a success, as it was dogged by problems of ill health and quarreling. In 1847, Clarke led many of the migrants home to Jamaica. Nonetheless, the Cameroons mission survived and later became the springboard for the BMS Congo mission. Clarke spent the rest of his life as a Baptist minister in Jamaica." –Michael Brown Rare Books

Typed transcript of letter included in folder.

"A 20-page autograph letter signed by George Francis Robert Harris, 3rd Baron, a liberal politician and colonial administrator, and the Governor of Trinidad and Tobago from 1846 to 1853. A very long letter designated 'Private,' signed by 'Harris' as Colonial Governor, and addressed to "My dear Sir" [almost certainly to Sir Benjamin Hawes, M. P. for Kinsale], discussing affairs of the colony and specifically recent pamphlets on colonial affairs. Five octavo bifolium gatherings...A lengthy letter to Hawes discussing the pamphlet 'Observations in Answer to Sir William Molesworth's Speech [Tuesday, July 25, 1848] on Colonial Expenditure and Government' by J. T. Danson, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, examining the issues raised about Colonial Government, the prevailing bias for the colored and black races against the planters, the subject of racial differences, the provision of education for the Negroes, landlords, the expenditure of colonial government, the high cost of living in the colonies, English influence, and much else.

A wide-ranging letter, presumably written to Hawes who was made Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in Lord John Russell's government. It was Harris who brought a system of local government to Trinidad, 'which was dispensable to the efficient operation of an education system,' but 'Economic conditions precluded political and social reform, and such ambitious plans for education and local government had to be temporarily shelved. The closing months of 1847 saw Trinidad sinking into its worst economic depression of the century...' (Ameer H. Ali, Development of higher education in Trinidad and Tobago 1498-1968, pp. 30-40, doctoral dissertation, Ottawa, 1975).

It was during those exact conditions that Lord Harris penned this letter. 'Lord Harris was appalled at the low educational standard in Trinidad...Harris also started the first public library in Port-of-Spain...a steamer that shuttled between south Trinidad and Port-of-Spain was named after him. Today, Lord Harris Square in Port-of-Spain is reminiscent of the man who brought mass education to Trinidad.' (Gerard A. Beeson, 'Lord Harris: Live and Learn!' in The Caribbean History Archive, 2011).

Despite his many laudable accomplishments in Trinidad, Governor Harris was, in the end, still a 19th Century British politician. He writes 'There has generally been too great a leaning towards the coloured & black race & against the planters manifested...I think the unwillingness of the white proprietors or planters to provide for the education of the negroes is a good deal overstated...The blacks show little disposition to acquire more than small properties. In a few years when they have got rid of the bothering of the white, for they look upon his ideas of industry in that light, they will be happy contended indolent race...Not only did the white proprietors send their children to Europe for their education, but many of the coloured people did the same & any blacks getting into good circumstances have followed their example. By this they have acquired better habits, higher notions of civilisation & more extended ideas-their poverty now prevents this-and they will consequently become more prejudiced less easy to manage. In fact there can be no doubt that unintentionally we have been forming a number of embryo republics...but of this I am certain-that it is only by our own race & chiefly by Englishmen-that we keep our influence & power, & thus the interests of our merchants, and hope that the ideas & opinions of a person on the spot however unworthy of much regard, may be of some little assistance to you with respect to the subjects referred to.'" –Description by Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc.

"Pair of manuscript letters, February 14 and March 24, 1838, written by University of Pennsylvania Medical School graduate (Class of 1835) Dr. George Goodell from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and Mycatea, Venezuela, respectively, to Abram and John W. Brown at Mt. Holly, New Jersey, partly to keep them apprised of the health of their son and brother (Goodell's medical school classmate) Alexander Brown (d. 1859), who was traveling with Goodell's help at least partly to slow his demise from a tubercular lung condition. As recorded here, good air and exercise began to improve Alexander Brown's health as early as their departure from St. Croix. In Venezuela, they settled into the small coastal village of Mycatea (15 miles from Caracas and 1 mile west of Laguira), where they rented a furnished residence with a cook. Goodell describes the still evident effects of the 1812 earthquake on the inhabitants and with a cook. Goodell describes the still evident effects of the 1812 earthquake on the inhabitants and buildings of Laguira (portions of the town-including cathedral -where 'the poor wretches fled...in crowds to prostrate themselves before the hallowed images of the saints.'- still in ruins containing hundreds of skeletal remains. Some aspects of Venezuelan life and culture struck Goodell as different rom those of the Middle Atlantic states early in the Victorian era, e.g., 'Widows are so innumerable and in some cases they have actually offered their daughters for sale to the highest bidder...In no country is there such licentiousness among the male population - and female too.' And yet...'So far as personal charms are concerned I think the Spanish Creoles of South America are unrivalled.'" –Description from Carmen D. Valentino American Historical Manuscripts

Zevin, Robert. Cambrige, MA: Massachusetts Political Action for Peace, 1965. Issued after the U.S. Invasion.

Includes transcript, 2 page document.

Includes transcript, 1 page document. Also includes a copy of the transcript. African Slave Trade. Hand-written Portledge Bill of Brigantine "Reynard", Peter Dordin (slave captain) Master from Africa. Date-lined: Barbados: July 26, 1763 with a receipt for Barbados currency. Listed, of course, are names of crew; their rates; wages; hospital money etc. in columns.

Letter from Timonthy Blenman, a plantation owner, about the British and french hostilities in the colonial west indies during the seven years war.

1 page document. Also includes a copy of the transcript.

Delievered by the Bishop of La Altagracia at the Cathedral of La Altagracia, Higuey, Dominican Republic

A single bound report compiled by Donald J. O'Connor of the Office of Puerto Rico in Washington, D. C. with an appeal on the back cover from the Governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero.

"An interesting group of manuscripts all related to Haiti. Highlights include: An untitled 20-page manuscript on Haiti in English, without author, including sections on natural history, commerce, history, and politics, circa 1825; Group of 4 letters signed by Louis Dufrene as Haitian Foreign Minister to Eugène Séguy de Villevaleix, Haitian charges-des-affairs in Paris, discussing, reestablsihment of the French Empire, and politics in Europe. Port-au-Prince, January to July 1853; manuscript account book titled "Compatabilité particulière reative aux traites reçues pour le paiement de la dette nationale" (payments to France on the national debt), 30 pages, March 1862 to March 1864; certificate issued to Alonzo P. Holly (trained in New York) to practice medicine in Haiti, Port-au-Prince, 7 November 1889; group of 4 documents concerning the treatment of a distressed American vessel, the schooner John I. Snow, at Cap Haïtien. Vp, April-May 1894." -Libreria de Antaño

Unedited version of chapters thirteen through sixteen of the Invisible Billionaire by Jerry Shields, a biography of David Ludwig, a capitalist financiar who worked with the merchant marines and was one the richest man in the United States.