Voyage à Surinam et dans l'intérieur de la Guiane, contenant la relation de cinq années de courses et d'observations faites dans cette contrée intéressante et peu connue, avec des détails sur les Indiens de la Guiane et les Nègres. Traduit de l'anglais [...].

4 vol. (3 text 8vo, 1 atlas 4to): [3-1 bl.]-viii-410-[2], [1-1 bl.-1-1 bl.]-440, [1-1 bl.-1-1 bl.]-506-[1-1 bl.], [1-1 bl.]-2 pp.; 44 pl.

Later quarter brown leather, paper on boards, gilt orn. flat spines, mod. endpapers, sp. edges.

First edition of the French translation by P.F. Henry of this important narrative (first London, 1796) by the Dutch-born Scottish colonial soldier J.G. Stedman (1744-1797). Stedman served in the Dutch military in Suriname assisting in the fight against escaped slaves during the Dutch colonisation of the Guianas (independent since 1975). His account is distinguished from many other travel accounts, constituting an unequivocal testimony to the odious behaviour of Europeans towards slaves: "De telles atrocités me forcent à déclarer que des Européens et des Africains qui habitent cette colonie, les premiers sont les plus barbares" (cfr. I-145). Stedman also describes Suriname landscapes, plants and animals, the habits of groups of indigenous people and even the effects of European settlers in Suriname. His observations of life encompass the different cultures present at the time: Dutch, Scottish, native, African, Spanish, Portuguese and French. However the majority and most important aspect of the work concentrates on the numerous first-hand stories of the horrors of slavery: torture, psychological and physical abuse and forced personal mutilation. The contrast between the beauty of the colony and the taste for violence and endemic cruelty is illustrated in the atlas volume, complete with 44 full-page engr. pl. (some folding) by Tardieu showing maps, fauna and flora, torture of slaves, colonials and indigenous people, etc.
Ref. Sabin 91083. - BnF. - COPAC.