London: A.K. Newman & Co., [n.d., ca. 1830]. First edition. One of two variants issued by Dean & Munday with separate title-pages (the other with the Dean & Munday imprint on the title-page). Twelvemo (leaves measuring 136 x 85 mm). 152 pp. With the frontispiece, though without the two terminal ad leaves found in copies with the Dean & Munday imprint. A Good+ copy. Contemporary quarter red roan over marbled boards. Spine chipped away at head and tail. Contemporary ink ownership inscription (dated 1831) and modern ink ownership inscription to upper free endpaper. Offsetting to title-page. This is an uncommon book: OCLC records five copies of this issue (none in the United States) and four copies of the Dean & Munday issue.

"The Planter's Daughter and Her Slave" tells the story of Helen, whose family purchases Lola, an enslaved girl, in violation of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Helen, who is vocally pro-slavery, mistreats Lola, until Lola is freed and Helen receives narrative retribution in the form of poverty and smallpox. The story is a kind of abolitionist fable: simplistic in its characterization and themes, but clearly articulating its author's antislavery message.

Jane Margaret Strickland (1800 - 1888) is now best recorded through her bibliography and through her connection to her sisters, who also achieved recognition as writers and reformers. Jane published over a dozen children's books, mostly through Dean & Munday and its connected firms, and occasionally in collaboration with her sisters. Aside from Jane, the Strickland family also included the authors Agnes Strickland, Mary Strickland, Catharine Parr Traill, and Susanna Moodie. All of four sisters were prolific writers with social reformist sensibilities: Susanna, in particular, was a member of the London Anti-Slavery Society and wrote several abolitionist tracts; she and Jane may have inspired each other's advocacy. Catharine was also a noted naturalist who extensively documented the botanical life of Canada after moving from England in the early 1830s – her Canadian Wild Flowers (1868), illustrated by her niece Agnes, was a popular and particularly beautiful treatment of the subject. Good + (Item #8065)