Borrow it
Coverart for item
The Resource Slavery and the making of early American libraries : British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814, Sean Moore

Slavery and the making of early American libraries : British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814, Sean Moore

Creator
Author
Summary
"Early American libraries stood at the nexus of two transatlantic branches of commerce--the book trade and the slave trade. Slavery and the Making of Early American Libraries bridges the study of these trades by demonstrating how Americans' profits from slavery were reinvested in imported British books and providing evidence that the colonial book market was shaped, in part, by the demand of slave owners for metropolitan cultural capital. Drawing on recent scholarship that shows how participation in London cultural life was very expensive in the eighteenth century, as well as evidence that enslavers were therefore some of the few early Americans who could afford to import British cultural products, this book merges the fields of the history of the book, Atlantic studies, and the study of race, arguing that the empire-wide circulation of British books was underwritten by the labour of the African diaspora. This volume is the first in early American and eighteenth-century British studies to fuse our growing understanding of the material culture of the transatlantic text with our awareness of slavery as an economic and philanthropic basis for the production and consumption of knowledge. In studying the American dissemination of works of British literature and political thought, the book claims that Americans were seeking out the forms of citizenship, constitutional traditions, and rights that were the signature of that British identity. Even though they were purchasing the sovereignty of Anglo-Americans at the expense of African-Americans through these books, however, some colonials were also making the case for the abolition of slavery"--Dust jacket
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xxvi, 256 pages
Contents
  • Introduction
  • Buying Oroonoko in Salem : sentimentality, spectacle, slavery, and the Salem Social Library
  • "Whatever is, is right" : the Redwood Library and the reception of Pope's poetry in colonial Rhode Island
  • They were prodigals and enslavers : patriarchy and the reading of Robinson Crusoe at the New York Society Library
  • Slaves as securitized assets : Chrysal, or, The Adventures of a Guinea, paper money, and the Charleston Library Society
  • "See Benezet's account of Africa throughout" : the genres of Equiano's Interesting Narrative and the Library Company of Philadelphia
  • Conclusion : philanthropy recommended--slavery, the origins of the "charitable industrial complex," and the public sphere
Isbn
9780198836377
Instance
Label
Slavery and the making of early American libraries : British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814
Title
Slavery and the making of early American libraries
Title remainder
British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814
Statement of responsibility
Sean Moore
Creator
Author
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
"Early American libraries stood at the nexus of two transatlantic branches of commerce--the book trade and the slave trade. Slavery and the Making of Early American Libraries bridges the study of these trades by demonstrating how Americans' profits from slavery were reinvested in imported British books and providing evidence that the colonial book market was shaped, in part, by the demand of slave owners for metropolitan cultural capital. Drawing on recent scholarship that shows how participation in London cultural life was very expensive in the eighteenth century, as well as evidence that enslavers were therefore some of the few early Americans who could afford to import British cultural products, this book merges the fields of the history of the book, Atlantic studies, and the study of race, arguing that the empire-wide circulation of British books was underwritten by the labour of the African diaspora. This volume is the first in early American and eighteenth-century British studies to fuse our growing understanding of the material culture of the transatlantic text with our awareness of slavery as an economic and philanthropic basis for the production and consumption of knowledge. In studying the American dissemination of works of British literature and political thought, the book claims that Americans were seeking out the forms of citizenship, constitutional traditions, and rights that were the signature of that British identity. Even though they were purchasing the sovereignty of Anglo-Americans at the expense of African-Americans through these books, however, some colonials were also making the case for the abolition of slavery"--Dust jacket
Cataloging source
StDuBDS
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Moore, Sean D
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Intended audience
Specialized
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Book industries and trade
  • Public libraries
  • Slavery
  • English literature
Target audience
specialized
Label
Slavery and the making of early American libraries : British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814, Sean Moore
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Introduction -- Buying Oroonoko in Salem : sentimentality, spectacle, slavery, and the Salem Social Library -- "Whatever is, is right" : the Redwood Library and the reception of Pope's poetry in colonial Rhode Island -- They were prodigals and enslavers : patriarchy and the reading of Robinson Crusoe at the New York Society Library -- Slaves as securitized assets : Chrysal, or, The Adventures of a Guinea, paper money, and the Charleston Library Society -- "See Benezet's account of Africa throughout" : the genres of Equiano's Interesting Narrative and the Library Company of Philadelphia -- Conclusion : philanthropy recommended--slavery, the origins of the "charitable industrial complex," and the public sphere
Control code
043718496
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xxvi, 256 pages
Isbn
9780198836377
Isbn Type
(hbk)
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Other physical details
illustrations (black and white)
Label
Slavery and the making of early American libraries : British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814, Sean Moore
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Introduction -- Buying Oroonoko in Salem : sentimentality, spectacle, slavery, and the Salem Social Library -- "Whatever is, is right" : the Redwood Library and the reception of Pope's poetry in colonial Rhode Island -- They were prodigals and enslavers : patriarchy and the reading of Robinson Crusoe at the New York Society Library -- Slaves as securitized assets : Chrysal, or, The Adventures of a Guinea, paper money, and the Charleston Library Society -- "See Benezet's account of Africa throughout" : the genres of Equiano's Interesting Narrative and the Library Company of Philadelphia -- Conclusion : philanthropy recommended--slavery, the origins of the "charitable industrial complex," and the public sphere
Control code
043718496
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xxvi, 256 pages
Isbn
9780198836377
Isbn Type
(hbk)
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Other physical details
illustrations (black and white)

Subject

Library Locations

    • Sydney Jones LibraryBorrow it
      Chatham Street, Liverpool, L7 7BD, GB
      53.403069 -2.963723

Library Links

Structured data from the Bibframe namespace is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by University of Liverpool. Additional terms may apply to data associated with third party namespaces.
Processing Feedback ...