Author: BENOIT, Pierre Jacques.
Title: Voyage a Surinam. Description des possessions néerlandaises dans la Guyane.
Description: Bruxelles, De Wasme et Laurent, 1839. Large folio. Contemporary half black morocco, spine gilt. With woodengraved illustration on title-page and 100 views and illustrations on 50 full-page tinted lithographed plates, including the fine frontispiece, by Madou and Lauters after the author. 76 pp. First edition. - Pierre Jacques Benoit (1782 - 1854) a Belgian draftsman and painter, visited around 1830 the Dutch colony of Suriname on its own initiative. He visited Paramaribo, but also plantations and villages of Maroons and Indians. He made a large number of drawings in which he tried to capture the real life of the people. His book is a journalistic report of the country and its populations with all their strange customs, objects, festivals and rituals. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful books on Suriname with detailed and informative illustrations. Benoit was also one of the first to make an emphatic distinction in his descriptions between city and plantation slaves. The very attractive set of views of Suriname include fine scenes of native life, showing costumes, dwellings, ceremonies, festivals, recreations, interiors, utensils, etc. of the Black- and Indian population, including several images relating to the Jewish population of the colony. 'Litho’s uit Benoits ‘Voyage a Surinam’ zijn de meest indrukwekkend 19e eeuwse prenten over Suriname' (Carl Haarnack, Buku-Bibliotheca Surinamica). A beautiful lithographed plates-book on the people and life in Suriname. - Except some foxing as usual, a fine copy. Sabin 4737; Muller, America, p.169; Suriname-Cat. UB Amsterdam 0580a; Cat. NHSM I, p.284; Chadenat I, 14: Un des plus beaux livres sur la Guyane hollandaise.

Keywords: America Suriname slavery