Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2007 Issue
A Variety from Patrick King Rare Books
"Am I Not a Man and a Brother" seal from Benezet's abolitionist book.
Catherine Wilmot (or Katherine Wilmot) was an adventuresome young Irish woman who did quite a bit of traveling during the early years of the 18th century. From 1801-1803, she traveled around Europe, France and Italy in particular, in the company of Lord and Lady Mount Cashell, some aristocratic neighbors who took a liking to her. Upheavals caused by the meddlesome Napoleon eventually forced this journey to end. However, she and a younger sister then set out for Russia, where she spent another four years on the road. After her return, friends urged Catherine to publish her journals, but somehow it never quite happened, and she died in 1824 unpublished. However, manuscript copies of her journals were passed around by various members of the Wilmot and Mount Cashell families. Finally, an edited version of both her travels was published first in 1920, again in 1992. Item 60 is a manuscript copy of her Continental Journal from the first trip, that was passed down over the years to descendants of the Mount Cashells. This copy differs from either of the published versions in various ways, it evidently not being the text used for those printings. £750 (US $1,457).
Anthony Benezet was a French-born Quaker who moved to Philadelphia in 1731, where he formed the first anti-slavery organization in America. He founded a school for black children and published a number of pamphlets against the slave trade. In 1771, he published Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants: An Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, Its Nature and Lamentable Effects. This work would be important for the abolitionist cause in Britain as well as America. Item 128 the "new edition" of this work, published in 1788, four years after Benezet died. £375 (US $728).
Patrick King Rare Books may be reached by telephone at +44 (0)1908 564546 or by fax at +44 (0)1908 263911.
