Viaggio del cittadino Carlo Mantegazza milanese a S. Domingo nell’anno 1802.
Milano: Dalla Stamperìa e Fonderìa de Genio Tipografico presso il ponte di S. Marco, No. 1997. 1803. First edition. In later hard paper. [6] [2] 3–136 p. Later bookplate on the verso of the title page (Monsignor Commendatore Luigi Maggiotti). Light foxing throughout. Otherwise in fine condition.
One of the earliest Italian accounts on Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution.
First edition of this narrative detailing a voyage to the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue in 1802 during the Haitian Revolution, authored by Carlo Mantegazza, an Italian adventurer from Milan. This work is structured as a series of dated letters, beginning on 28 January 1802 in Lyon. Mantegazza’s journey includes his departure from Nantes on the Victorine on 20 March 1802. After several entries made at sea, he documents his arrival at Basse-Terre on Guadeloupe on 10 May 1802 before proceeding to Cap-Français in Saint-Domingue later that month.
Mantegazza's observations span a wide range of topics: the island's geography, the cultivation of rice, coffee, and sugar, reflections on slavery, the social structure of the island, details about plantations and the slave trade, the colony's economy, and the activities of General François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803), a leading figure in the Haitian Revolution.
Notably, this publication is among the earliest Italian accounts of Toussaint Louverture and, to our best knowledge, represents the first firsthand report of the Haitian Revolution in Italian.
Sabin 44397.
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Price: €1,250.00