Gazette de Saint-Domingue, politique, civile, économique et littéraire. Affiches, annnonces et avis divers
Author:
Place of Publication: Au Port-au-Prince
Publisher: Chez Mozard, imprimeur du Roi
Publication Date: 1791
Physical Description: 93 nos. ; 21 cm. (8vo)
Description:
The Gazette de Saint-Domingue appeared in 93 numbers [no. 1 (January 1, 1791) - no. 93 (November 19, 1791)]. Perhaps this is one of the most exciting works on Haiti at the John Carter Brown Library. The world of rare serials is fraught with headaches, as the cataloguer tries to figure out a printing history, possible supplements from the paucity of single issues held. Not so in this case. The Library possesses a nearly complete run, but for one issue (no. 74, September ??, 1791) , bound into two volumes in sequential order with all of the supplementary issues bound in their correct chronological places. Serial publications hold a wealth of information, useful for many disciplines. The Gazette includes many kinds of notices, including those regarding death, lost animals, slaves and maroon information, political notices, to sell and to let notices, and arrivals and departures of citizens and ships to and from the island. The Library’s copy even includes the prospectus for the Gazette bound before issue no. 1 with title and imprint The Gazette de Saint-Domingue began publication during the revolutionary years. The first reference to the August 21-22 slave revolt and its unfolding did not appear until September 3, suggesting an editorial agenda to minimize, if not deny altogether, the reality of the northern planters’ loss of control over their slaves. The report recounts the Colonial Assembly’s decision to emancipate a plantation slave driver named Jean, in exchange for his help in capturing Jean-Baptiste Cap, one of the leaders of the August 1791 revolt. Emphasizing that it was important “in the present circumstances to present this example as a model” to the colony’s
Notes: 1-SIZE E789 .T653m