Victor Schoelcher (1804-1893).

Des colonies françaises, abolition immédiate de l’esclavage.

Paris, Pagnerre, éditeur, 1842.

8° (22 x 14 cm). lii, 443, [1 blank] pp.

Original green printer publisher’s wrappers, wholly untrimmed and partially unopened. Protective tissue paper covers.

This rare first edition of Schoelcher’s pivotal abolitionist treatise stands as a landmark in the history of anti-slavery literature. Building upon his earlier work, Abolition de l’esclavage (1840), Schoelcher intensifies his call for the immediate and unconditional abolition of slavery in the French colonies.
Drawing upon his first-hand observations during extensive travels to the Caribbean and the Americas, Schoelcher provides a harrowing depiction of the conditions endured by enslaved individuals in the French Antilles. The work includes a section entitled Proverbes et locutions nègres (pp. 417–434), which serves as a valuable recording of Black oral culture, preserving the sayings and expressions of the enslaved population. It also features a detailed table listing over 20,000 manumissions granted in Martinique between February 1830 and April 1840, providing significant statistical documentation of emancipation efforts prior to the final abolition decree.
He argues forcefully that emancipation is both a moral necessity and a patriotic duty, affirming that it must be enacted "in the name of humanity and nationality, both in the name of justice." Schoelcher’s relentless advocacy ultimately contributed to the abolition of slavery throughout the French colonies by decree on 27 April 1848, an event with which he was personally and prominently associated.

Condition: Contemporary repair to spine, with shelf mark and title in ink. Stamp and slight wear to back cover. Contents very clean and crisp apart from three slightly spotted pages.

Reference: Sabin 77745.