8vo. [2], 24pp. Original publisher's green cloth over card boards. A little rubbed and marked, some damp-staining to endpapers and preliminaries, hinges starting. Light spotting to text. Presentation copy, inscribed 'Louisa Sarah Laufear from Dear Mrs Burbidge, Thursday Sept. 2nd 1847' to head of title.

'Go then, and aid the cause of God and man,
Though much ye cannot do - do all ye can -
Rise for the wrongs that Afric's sons oppress'
And leave for Him to sanctify and bless.'

A rare collection of devotional verse, printed in Oxford, and led by the seven-page title poem exploring the moral horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, the practice's continuation in certain parts of the world, and the consequent risks 'incurred by the nation that supports them'.

The rhyming couplets of 'The Slave Trade', which closes with a combination of Whiggist progressivism and Christian redemption, are followed by two pages of footnotes relating details of references within the verse. The sources cited for these suggest that the author was especially familiar with the works of Mungo Park and Thomas Buxton.

Of the author little is known, and although a contemporary review in the Athenaeum suggests that the 'theme so directly claiming the protection of the Muse' defends the 'appeal itself...against imperfect execution', indicating perhaps that the times were receptive to a work of this nature - both John Burbidge and The Slave Trade appear to have sunk almost without trace.

COPAC and OCLC together locate just three copies worldwide (BL, Liverpool, and NY Historical Society).