London: James Philips, George Yard, 1791. Second edition. Expanded from the Newcastle edition published earlier in the same year. Measuring 220 x 140 and collating complete including both the infamous folding plate depicting "human cargo" as well as the map of the western coast of Africa, both so often lacking: xxvi, [2, blank], 155, [1, blank]. A Very Good copy. Fully unsophisticated in original drab boards. Without the paper spine one might expect from this style of binding (seemingly as issued, without evidence of removal). Binding fragile, with some of the cords broken. Edges untrimmed. Tears to C4 and G2, affecting a few letters in each case. Verso of folding plate with an archival tape repair. Some contemporary pencil marginalia throughout, mostly in the second half of the work, demonstrating the engagement of a contemporary reader. A remarkable survival.

Abstract of the Evidence stands among the most powerful and important arguments – textually and visually – for the abolition of the slave trade. "In the eighteenth century, most sugarcane sent to Europe was produced by enslaved people...human beings died so that someone in Europe could eat jam and have sweetener for their tea" (Fowler). While many Britons lived in complacency, there were those who used their voices, their creativity, and their influence to fight the evils of slavery. Among them was William Wilberforce, a British politician and philanthropist whose commitment to equality was a pivotal component of Britain ending its participation in the transatlantic slave trade in 1807. "Once the British Abolition Committee was established in 1787, abolitionism became a mass movement. In 1788-1792, there was a media blitz and petitioning campaign timed to coincide with Wilberforce's Parliamentary bills. His colleague Thomas Clarkson had worked tirelessly to assemble damning evidence against the trade, and the abolitionists pioneered many of the tactics now used by modern pressure groups: logos, petitions, rallies, book tours, posters, letters, local chapters, and the mass mobilization of grass roots agitation. There were even boycotts of consumer goods...In just one generation there was a sea change" (Coffey). The present work precedes Clarkson's more common 1808 account of the history of the slave trade, being composed and released as the battle was reaching its height.

This London edition was the second of three separate editions from the same year (preceded by Newcastle, the scarcest, and followed by Edinburgh, the most common); this London edition was released with a simpler title page than its predecessor, retaining the chilling plate illustrating "human cargo" on a slave ship and including a second, new folding map. Expanding the Newcastle edition's 117 page summary of facts about the slave trade to 155 pages, this edition also enriched a report now considered "the first great work of investigative journalism" as well as "the first book against slavery that instead of arguing from the Bible relied entirely on carefully documented eyewitness accounts" (Hochschild). As if this shocking factual testimony were not enough, the work contains at its center "the diagram of the hold of a slave ship, with slaves packed in layer upon layer – without question the most recognizable image of the horrors of slavery. The diagram was engraved after the American imprint by Matthew Carey issued in 1789" and is among the first British appearances (Swann). Wilberforce's argument before Parliament stands as one of the most important exposes on the horrors of the African slave trade, and one of the most impactful arguments for its abolition.

ESTC T143402. Sabin 81745 (London edition). Thomas Clarkson Papers (1760-1846) (BL MSS. 41262-41267, including Alison). (Item #8126)