Vida de J. J. Dessalines, gefe los negros de Santo Domingo; con notas muy circunstanciadas sobre el origen, caracter y atrocidades de los principales gefes de los negros desde el principio de la insurreccion en 1791. Traducido del Frances por D. M. G. C.
Madrid: en la Imprenta Rea, 1805. First Spanish edition. In contemporary leather, gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. [4] [1]–132. p. Darker blots on binding. Pages tanned. Wormholes to the lower margin, throughout signature G, no effect to the text. Otherwise in fine condition.
The first Spanish translation of the first biography of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the first ruler of an independent Haiti.
First edition in Spanish of Jean-Louis Dubroca’s La vie de J. J. Dessalines originally published in French, in Paris, 1804. Considered the first biography of Jean-Jacques Dessalines (c. 1758–1806) a former slave, one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, the only successful slave rebellion in history, which culminated in the elimination of slavery and the founding of the Republic of Haiti, the first independent black republic and the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere in 1804. Dessalines became the first ruler of an independent Haiti, as Emperor Jacques I (1804–1806) until being assassinated in 1806 by opponents who resisted his autocratic rule.
Written by Jean-Louis Dubroca (1757–1835), who also authored the first biography of Toussaint Louverture, as part of the ongoing propaganda of Bonaparte’s regime to vilify the Haiti revolution and its leaders. Both of Dubroca’s biographies were soon published in various other languages, the present one in Spanish (1805, Madrid - the present edition; 1806, Mexico), Dutch (1805, Haarlem), and German (1805, Leipzig).
Extremely scarce, WorldCat locates only one copy in the US (Howard University) and seven in European institutional holding (6 in Spain 6; 1 in Germany). RBH lists no copies.
Price: €8,000.00