Book Description
Anna Maria Falconbridge�2s Narrative of Two Voyages, consisting of fourteen letters to a friend about her experiences, is the first published Englishwoman�2s narrative of a visit to West Africa. Alexander Falconbridge�2s Account of the Slave Trade describes the horrific conditions he had witnessed in West Africa. Published in 1788 by the London Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, it was the first piece of published abolitionist propaganda.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 1791 Anna Maria Falconbridge left England to travel to Sierra Leone with her husband, Alexander Falconbridge who was an ardent activist in the campaign to abolish the slave trade. He went as an employee of the Sierra Leone Company to prepare for the establishment of a settlement of freed slaves. On this trip and a subsequent trip, Anna Maria wrote a series of lively letters to a friend describing her experiences, African life and customs which she later published as this Narrative.

She did not share her husbands views on abolition, and by the time of his death from alchohol on the second voyage they were estranged. She quickly remarried a man more sympathetic to her opinions and herself. Disgusted by the incompetence and, as they saw it, sanctimonious self-righteousness of the Sierra Leone Company and the abolitionist movement, Anna Maria and her new husband went home on board a slave ship. Back in London she published her Narrative along with an outspoken denunciation of the Company.

Providing a sharp contrast to Anna Maria's views, is Alexander Falconbridge's Account of the Slave Trade, which is included as an appendix in this edition of the Narrative. The Account is based upon Alexander's own experiences as a surgeon on board slave ships, and it describes the horrific conditions of the slave trade. Appearing originally in 1788, Account of the Slave Trade was the first published piece of literature promoting the abolitionist cause.

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