Beschreibung:

Set of three bound volumes containing nine early Mauritius imprints, including a run of six annual issues of the Recueil des Lois, Notes & Avis du Gouvernement, two official decrees, and an issue of the Mauritius Gazette.
Port Louis, Mauritius:] 1826-1831. Three volumes. Small 4to (177 x 130 mm). Collation: 205,[2],263pp. plus six folding leaves comprising an issue of the Mauritius Gazette; [2],127,[blank leaf],120,[2],320pp. plus sixteen folding leaves consisting of two official ordinances; [2],254,[2],264pp. Modern three-quarter calf over marbled boards, spines gilt with red leather lettering labels. the earliest obtainable english mauritius imprints. These three volumes represent probably the earliest procurable English imprints of the important British island colony of Mauritius. Although the French established a press on the island in 1767 (among the earliest in the Indian Ocean region), the present offering is notable for including some of the earliest examples of printing in Mauritius after the British takeover in 1810. The island, which lies east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, was taken by the British from the French in 1810, but the inhabitants of the island were allowed to retain their own laws. In 1825 a new council of government was organized, and the British colonial government began to exert a tighter hold on the internal affairs of the island. The present collection of laws and imprints was issued shortly after this reorganization of the government, and consists largely of ordinances set forth by Gov. Gen. Galbraith Lowry Cole, Charles Colville, and others, respecting the system of taxation, agricultural premiums, internal improvements, shipping duties, laws respecting runaway slaves, the slave trade, etc. Although the island was allowed to retain its old French laws, these colonial ordinances effectively reshaped the legal system in accordance with the needs of Great Britain. The issue of the Mauritius Gazette contained in one of the volumes of the present collection, dated Sept. 16, 1826, includes the text of a royal proclamation regarding the establishment of an office for the registration of slaves. In addition, there are two folding royal ordinances for the amelioration of the condition of slaves. The extensive nature of these ordinances provides a wealth of details respecting the situation in Mauritius at that time. Through the influence of such officials as Sir Robert Farquhar, illicit slave trading and poor treatment of slaves were severely curtailed. Slaves were not emancipated in Mauritius until 1834, and up to that time the population of the island consisted only of Europeans and African slaves. The present documents are bilingual, in French and English. To this day, French is more widely spoken in Mauritius than English. scarce. The NUC locates only one example of earlier British colonial printing on the island, a set of laws from 1822 to 1824 now located at Harvard Law School. Although other sets of the present laws may exist, they are not noted in the NUC and are undoubtedly rare.