[Slavery] (La Faye, Jean Baptiste de). Voyage pour la redemption des captifs,

aux royaumes d'Alger et de Tunis. Fait en 1720 par les PP. François Comelin, Philemon de la Motte, & Joseph Bernard de l'Ordre de la Sainte Trinité, dit Mathurins. Paris, L.-A. Sevestre and P.-Fr. Giffart, 1721. 2 parts in 1 vol., (8),169; (10),LX,306,(5) p., w. engr. frontisp portr. of Louis XV, fold. engr. plate of the court of the Regent of Algiers and 1 other engr. plate, cont. mottled calf, gilt and ribbed spine w. mor. letterpiece. Two old owner's entries (Duboys de Riocour and Damblain) on title-p., occas. foxing/ staining, central tear in leaf A6 of the second part. Lacks headcap and outer corner showing.

First edition of this travel-account of the three mentioned Trinitarian Fathers, initiated to free Christians enslaved by the Muslim rulers of North Africa. The second part has a letterpress divisional title "La tradition the l'eglise", the title above page 1 is "La tradition de l'eglise, pour le soulagement ou le rachat des captifs". The 60 Roman numbered lvs comprise a "Liste des esclaves rachetez", listing the names of slaves, incl. women and even babies, divided in two groups, noting the places they came from (mostly France but also the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, etc.), their age and years in captivity and describing the journey home of the groups. For example: "Pierre Goëns, chrirurgie d'Amsterdam, âgé de trente quatre ans, esclave onze ans." A second edition was published in 1731, an English translation appeared in 1735. See the list of Christian slaves freed in 1838 in the manuscripts section in this auction.