Engraved, hand colored illustration. Labels in English read [top] "The Leguana or Iguana Lizard of Guiana, [bottom] "The Alligator or Cayman of Surinam."
Engraved, hand colored illustration shows a portrait of a young, enslaved Black woman. Text below reads "Joanna."
Detail of an engraved, hand colored map of Guiana with decorative cartouche with map title reading "A map of Guiana by J. G. Stedman." Map includes Portugal, Atlantic Ocean, mountains, and yellow, pink and purple details.
Engraved, hand colored fold-out map shows green, orange and pink details.

Narrative, of a five years' expedition,

John Gabriel Stedman
1796

John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative (1796) is a very complicated text. Published more than 20 years after the events, it tells the story of Stedman’s deployment to the Dutch-controlled colony of Surinam to suppress an armed Black revolt in 1772. He describes a wide spectrum of colonial society as well as Surinam’s natural environments, in a tone resembling earlier picaresque novels. Describing many scenes of cruelty of both slavery and military authority, one of the leading themes of the work is his romanticized relationship with Joanna, an enslaved woman and mother of his child Johnny. The 80 engravings in first edition were executed after Stedman’s drawings by the leading artists of the time. The work was reprinted upwards of twenty-five times in six languages, of which 12 are held at the JCB.

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