Observations on the Inslaving, importing and purchasing of Negroes with some Advice thereon extracted form [sic] the Yearly Meeting Epistle of London for the present Year. Also Some Remarks on the absolute Necessity of Self-Denial, renouncing the World, and true Charity

Germantown, PA: Printed by Christopher Sower, 1759. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition of this scarce and important colonial-era antislavery pamphlet, and one of the earliest antislavery tracts to be printed in America. 8vo. [ii], 15 pp. Stitched in contemporary plain waste paper wrapper.

From the library of James Moon, a prominent Philadelphia Quaker who played a leading role in the long-running Quaker campaign against slavery in the 18th Century. Moon's ownership signature dated 1760 inked on the inside of the front wrapper, the inside of the back wrap, and the title leaf verso. Short-title in manuscript presumably in Moon's hand on the front wrap, and an additional early, small ownership signature there as well ("JHM", possibly another Moon).

Near Fine. Some worming, rubbing and fraying to the edges of wraps, the top third of the wrapper is split along spine. The left-most 1/2 inch of text at the bottom eleven lines on page 7 have been neatly underlined in red ink where the letterpress type is uneven.

Benezet (1713-1784) was a French-born American abolitionist and teacher who was active in Philadelphia. A prominent member of the abolitionist movement in North America, Benezet founded one of the world's first anti-slavery societies, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.

An influential anti-slavery tract and Benezet's first major work, in which he drew on stories of slave traders and eyewitnesses to condemn the slave trade and slavery as unjust, unchristian, and inhumane. Offering his reflections and observations on the effects of slavery in the American colonies, Benezet denounces arguments supporting the trade as "all drawn from Avarice or ill founded, none will stand the Test of that divine Rule, To do unto all Men, as we would they should do unto us. Without Purchasers, there would be no Trade; and consequently every Purchaser as he encourages the Trade, becomes partaker in the Guilt of it". Directed to a general audience but especially Benezet's fellow Quakers--many of whom were slaveholders who had amassed great wealth from slave labor--this short pamphlet helped energize the abolitionist movement not only within Quaker ranks, but in North America and England in general. Sabin 4676; Evans 8298; Smith, Friends' Books I, p. 240; Hogg, African Slave Trade 1730.