Narrative of Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam

When John Gabriel Stedmans Narrative of Five Years Expedition was first published in 1796a bowdlerized edition full of lies and nonsenseStedman claimed to have burned two thousand copies. It nevertheless became an immediate popular success. A first-hand account of an eighteenth-century slave society, including graphic accounts of the worlds of both masters and slaves, it also contained vivid descriptions of exotic plants and animals, of military campaigns, and of romantic adventures. Illustrated by William Blake, Francesco Bartolozzi, and others, Stedmans work was quickly translated into a half-dozen languages and was eventually published in over twenty-five different editions. The Prices acclaimed critical edition is based on Stedmans original, handwritten manuscript, which offers a portrait at considerable variance with the 1796 classic. The unexpurgated text, presented here with extensive notes and commentary, constitutes one of the richest and most evocative accounts ever written of a flourishing slave society. The Prices restore early omissions involving Stedmans horror at the Dutch planters use of casual torture to discipline their slaves; his love and admiration for Joanna, his mulatto mistress; his strong belief in racial equality; and his outrage that in 20 Years two millions of People are murdered to Provide us with Coffee & Sugar. Freed from its original publishers censorship, Stedmans Narrative stands as one of the strongest indictments ever to appear against New World slavery.