Robert Campbell. A Pilgrimage to My Motherland. An Account of a Journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central Afr...

Description

Robert Campbell. A Pilgrimage to My Motherland. An Account of a Journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central Africa, in 1859-60. New York: Thomas Hamilton; Philadelphia: By the Author, 1861. First edition. Twelvemo (7.125 x 4.75 inches; 180 x 120 mm.). 145, [1, blank] pages. Folding map tipped to third blank leaf; tinted lithographic frontispiece with tissue guard. Publisher's original brown cloth, boards ruled in blind with blind-stamped floral decorations; spine lettered in gilt. All edges trimmed. Original endpapers. Spine very slightly skewed. Recased and rebacked with original backstrip laid down; gilt lettering now washed over with brown; small repairs just visible at corners; mild rubbing, shelf wear. Top edge of text block scraped, possibly once gilt. Endpapers yellowed, repairs from spine replacement visible at hinges. Occasional mild foxing, spot soiling scattered throughout text. With three ownership signatures to front endpapers, including one dated 1896. Very good. Bookplate of John Ralph Willis affixed to front pastedown. One of the earliest African-American emigrationist texts

More Information: Written following an expedition in 1859 to the Abeokuta region with American abolitionist Martin Robinson Delaney, Campbell's text is one of the earliest African-American emigrationist texts. In support of the establishment of a new nation in West Africa for the relocation of freed slaves from North America, Campbell states, "After what is written in context, if I am still asked what I think of Africa for a colored man to live and do well in, I simply answer, that with as good prospects in America as colored men generally, I have determined, with my wife and children, to go to Africa to live, leaving the inquirer to interpret the reply for himself"--Preface.