AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BLACK EMPIRE OF HAYTI: COMPREHENDING A VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL TRANSACTIONS IN THE REVOLUTION OF SAINT DOMINGO; WITH ITS ANTIENT AND MODERN STATE by RAINSFORD, Marcus - 1805

[London]: Albion Press Printed : Published by James Cundee, 1805. First Edition. Hardcover. Some browning to the preliminaries and minor foxing on some leaves. There is a small ink library stamp to the title page. The map of the Island is somewhat browned. The plan of Cape Francois has suffered from indifferent folding and is missing a small piece on the bottom center of the plan, but otherwise the volume has ample margins, clear print, and generally clean pages throughout. All of the plates and maps are excellent impressions. The front joint is split, but the board is holding firm by the cords. Very Good. Quarto (7-3/4" x 10-1/4") bound in dark brown morocco leather with gilt-lettered morocco spine label; [ii] - xxiii, [i], 467, [blank], [7], [3] pages. Lacks the half-title page but otherwise complete with index, ads, and all plates listed. Illustrated with 2 maps, 9 full-page engraved plates, and a facsimile of a letter of Toussaint. From the World Digital Library website: "Marcus Rainsford was a soldier who served for many years with the British Army in the British West Indies. He visited Haiti in 1799, where he became an admirer of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the former slave who led Haiti's revolution and struggle to end slavery. This book is Rainsford's account of the slave uprising that began in August 1791 and the subsequent fighting that, at different times, involved French, Spanish, and British troops and various factions in Haiti. The book includes the first known representations of Toussaint, which were engravings made from Rainsford's sketches and descriptions. Also included are extensive documentation of the revolution and Rainsford's disturbing accounts of the brutal treatment of the slave population by their French masters, as well as of the atrocities committed by all sides in the course of the struggle. Toussaint died in Paris in April 1803, after having been seized by French forces acting under orders from Napoleon Bonaparte, who in 1802 sent an army to Haiti in attempt to reassert French control. Rainsford's wholly admiring account of Toussaint appears in chapter 5 of the work." The plates and maps in this volume depict the following subjects: 1. The Author in Conversation. 2. Map of the Island. (folding) 3. Plan of Cape Francois. (folding) 4. View of the Temple erected by the Blacks. 5. Court-Martial of the Blacks. 6. Benevolence of a Female of Colour. 7. Toussaint L'Ouverture. 8. Mode of exterminating the Blacks by the French. 9. Revenge of the Blacks on the French. 10. Devastation of the Blood-Hounds (attacking a family in the Woods). 11. Facsimile of a Letter of Toussaint. 12. Mode of rearing Blood Hounds.

"Marcus Rainsford's work printed a year after Saint-Domingue officially became Haiti, is a retrospective of the history of the island up until that time. The plates include some wonderful, dramatic, and sometimes incendiary engravings. The work also includes an almost regal portrait of Toussaint L'Ouverture. The engravings contained in this work are probably some of the most powerful among the illustrative history of the Haitian revolution." From the John Carter Brown Library Page "Remember Haiti."