A Poetical Descant on the Primeval and Present State of Mankind; or, The Pilgrim's Muse.
Winchester, Va. J. Foster, Printer, 1816. First edition. Small 8vo, original sheep, red leather label, gilt lettering, 219, [1] pages. Fragile sheep rubbed but sound; some light foxing and spotting; front joint just a trifle tender; a good, sound copy of a moderately crude American book. Item #19598
An eccentric book-length poem from Elder Joseph Thomas (1791-1835), the wide-ranging charismatic North Carolina itinerant preacher, known as the White Pilgrim for his habit of attiring himself in white apparel in all seasons and climes. Thomas includes a fairly lengthy and graphic section here leveled against slavery and its exponents, suggesting those who endorse slavery might,
“Let them be bound and torn away,
From wives and friends to Africa.
Let them be starv'd and beat one year,
Then say 'tis right, I'll say 'tis queer;
Or whip their wives before their eye—
Is that all right? O no they cry.”
Thomas also suggests abstaining from the product of slave labor,
“In sugar works where Negroes toil,
A leg, and arm they often boil;
They grind them up and mix the sweet
Of all that luxury we eat.
O temp'rate man, use not that food,
That's stain'd or mix'd with negro blood!
That taste luxur'ous now forego,
Which causes human gore to flow.”
Stoddard & Whitesell 1148; Sabin 63639. Early ink autograph ownership signatures to the front free endpaper and to a rear blank and endpapers. Small tear from the lower margin of one leaf, with loss of a few letters but no loss of sense.
Price: $500.00