Antigua and the Antiguans
Item #80464
[FLANNIGAN, MRS.]. Antigua and the Antiguans: A Full Account of the Colony and its Inhabitants From the Time of the Caribs to the Present Day...Also, an Impartial View of Slavery and the Free Labor Systems; The Statistics of the Island, and Biographical Notices of the Principal Families. London: Saunders and Otley, 1844. Two volumes. xiv,8,345pp., plus errata slip;viii,355pp. Original blind-stamped green cloth, spines gilt. Spines sunned, worn at spine ends, boards lightly scuffed and worn, slight separation to cloth at lower joint of first volume. Contemporary presentation inscription on titlepage of second volume, later pencil annotations scattered throughout both volumes. A very good set, untrimmed and partially unopened. SABIN 1693. BEINECKE LESSER ANTILLES COLLECTION 870. RAGATZ 224. HANDLER 95. HALKETT & LAING I, p.122. A scarce, anonymously authored two-volume history of Antigua and its inhabitants, complete with list of subscribers and errata slip not present in all copies. Ragatz, Halkett & Laing, and others attribute this work to a "Mrs. Flannigan," though V.L. Oliver suggests a "Mrs. Lanaghan" in his HISTORY OF THE ISLAND OF ANTIGUA. In either case, this unknown British woman's history of Antigua is clearly written from extensive experience on the island, and goes into considerable detail on all aspects of its past and present. Aside from the main chronology, a chapter is included describing the pre-Columbian history of the Carib inhabitants as well as their present manners and customs, and the second volume contains no fewer than fifteen chapters on the history and contemporary condition of Blacks in Antigua, and the slave system in operation there. The author puts a particular focus on highlighting criminal cases between races (providing "palliations, but not excuses" for those committed by enslaved Blacks), and devotes one full chapter to an exploration of racial prejudice, which "has erected her stronghold" in the West Indies. The final chapters provide botanical, environmental, and statistical details on the island, and the appendix includes important legal documents and genealogies of leading families. A later owner of this copy appears to have been a descendant of one of these leading these families. A variety of pencil annotations from the unnamed owner, apparently an inhabitant of the nearby islan.
Price: $3,500.00