SANCHO, Ignatius.

Small 8vo., (12 x 17 cm.). Two volumes in one, both with frontispieces. xvi+204pp, 224pp.. Early half calf, marbled boards, spine ruled and stamped gilt in compartments with morocco title label. Volume one frontis. a stipple-engraved portrait frontispiece of Sancho by F. Bartolozzi after Thomas Gainsborough, the second title with integral stipple-engraved roundel by Bartolozzi. Internally a very good tight, clean copy. Appearing to have only been partially read. Very crisp. Some damp spotting to engravings, very mild foxing throughout. Upper board detached but present. Spine a little creased, boards rubbed, corners bumped. Ignatius Sancho, 1729–1780, was an 18th-century writer, composer and abolitionist. His eventful life took him from an enslaver’s ship to being one of the first Black men to vote in Britain. The ‘Letters’ is the first published collection “by a writer of African descent”. First appearing in 1782, the work immediately became a best-seller with the second edition (the present title) appearing in 1783 and a third edition the following year. "Any edition of his [Sancho's] work is indispensable to the study of black literature" (Blockson).