Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797)

Merkwaardige levensgevallen van Olaudah Equiano of Gustavus Vassa, den Afrikaan, door hem zelven beschreeven; en behelzende een beknopt verslag, van de zeden en gebruiken zijnes lands; — een verhaal van zijne schaaking, slaavernij, mishandelingen, zonderlinge lotgevallen, zoo ter zee als te land, en van zijne bekeering tot het geloof in Christus; — als ook, van de onmenschelijke wreedheden, welke omtrent de Negerslaaven doorgaans in de West-Indien worden gepleegd. Uit het Engelsch vertaald.

Rotterdam, Pieter Holsteyn, 1790.

Large 8° (22,5 x 14 cm). [16], 365 pp. With the half-title and an a stipple engraved portrait frontispiece of Equiano, captioned “Olaudah Equiano of Gustavus Vassa. De Afrikaan”, engraved by Franciscus Sansom.

Modern brown half cloth with marbled sides and label on spine.

The first translation of Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography into any language, published only a year after the English first edition of 1789. A foundational work of Black Atlantic literature, Equiano’s narrative became one of the most influential first-person accounts associated with the eighteenth-century abolitionist movement.

This only Dutch edition preceded both the first American edition of 1791 and the German and Russian translations of 1792 and 1794. It is very rare: the Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands records only three copies, and we have traced none in libraries outside the Netherlands.

Born in present-day Nigeria according to his own account, Equiano recounts his African childhood, abduction and enslavement, the Middle Passage, travels through the West Indies, North America, and Britain, maritime career, religious conversion, and purchase of his freedom. The narrative culminates in a forceful appeal for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

The Dutch edition includes a new stipple engraving by Franciscus Sansom (before 1784–ca. 1810), a London-born illustrator active in Rotterdam, based on the portrait in the English edition and captioned “De Africaan.” The inscription on Equiano’s open book is translated from “Acts Chap. IV. V. 12” to “Handel. Capit. IV. V. 12.” Both cite Acts 4:12, the verse that, as Equiano relates in Chapter 10, prompted the decisive moment in his Christian conversion.

The translation faithfully preserves all twelve chapters and the work’s religious and abolitionist arguments. Its principal changes are presentational: it omits the English subscriber list, adds a preface for Dutch readers, and expands the title to emphasize Equiano’s enslavement, mistreatment, conversion, and adventures. Whereas the English edition presents Equiano as a self-published Black author and activist who deliberately cultivated an abolitionist public profile, the Dutch edition recasts his political intervention as a sensational and morally instructive life story for Dutch readers. Although the publisher’s preface condemns slavery, it also adopts a paternalistic tone, presenting Equiano as proof that Africans could be educated into “useful” members of society.

An important early Continental translation of one of the eighteenth century’s most significant autobiographical and abolitionist texts.

Condition: In very good general condition. Half title thumbed, some minor occasional spotting and foxing throughout. Several leaves retain broad, partly untrimmed margins. The later binding is in good condition.

Reference & Literature:

STCN ID: 225908670.

Not in Sabin.

Blockson, Charles L. A Commented Bibliography of One Hundred and One Influential Books by and about People of African Descent, 1556–1982: A Collector’s Choice. A. Gerits & Sons, 1989, pp. 17–18.

Green, James. “The Publishing History of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative.” Slavery & Abolition, vol. 16, no. 3, 1995, pp. 362–75.

Huisman, Marijke. “Beyond the Subject: Anglo-American Slave Narratives in the Netherlands, 1789–2013.” European Journal of Life Writing, vol. 4, 2015, pp. VC56–VC84.

Carretta, Vincent. Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man. University of Georgia Press, 2005.