History of the Island of Saint Domingo from its first Discovery by Columbus to the present period.

HAITI & DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. – [Sir James BASKET, aka ‘Barskett]

History of the Island of Saint Domingo from its first Discovery by Columbus to the present period. London: printed for Archibald Constable & Co. of Edinburgh, and Rest Fenner of London, 1818. Ocatvo (8 x 5 ¼ in; 203 x 133mm). Pp. [i-]xiv; [1-]446, including pp. 387/388 a folding leaf with letterpress tables recto and verso. Condition of contents: some very light toning, split to section of the folding table, otherwise excellent. Modern half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, red leather label to spine, lettered in gilt. Condition of binding: excellent.

First edition of an important and quite early printed source for information on what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. An attractive copy of a work usually attributed to Sir James Basket (or Barskett), a government employee based in the Antilles. This work includes a version of the history of the island's discovery and colonization by Europeans, the importation of slaves from Africa and ensuing cruelties, rebellion and independence, and "the establishment of social order and regular government among a people whom their oppressors had denounced as incapable of these benefits." Sabin 75133; Blockson 3035.