Letters from Van Dieman's Land, written during Four Years Imprisonment for Political Offenses Committed in Upper Canada Embodying, also, Letters Descriptive of Personal Appeals in Behalf of Her Husband, and his Fellow Prisoners, to the Earl of Durham, Her Majesty, and the United Legislatures of the Canadas, by Mrs. B. Wait.
Buffalo: A. W. Wilgus, 1843. First edition. Wait was a participant in the Rebellion of 1837-38 in Canada and was convicted of high treason and condemned to death; his sentence was later commuted to exile at "Van Dieman's Land" (Tasmania) from which he escaped with the assistance of "the benevolent Americans who delivered me from the horrors of slavery". This is considered to be the most common of the Canadian Exile narratives. Ferguson 3762 cites the Buffalo Historical Society about the force of character of Mrs. Wait, who worked tirelessly for the release of her husband, and who sadly died the year this book was published. 8vo, 356 pp, b&w frontis, b&w folding map at p. 352, foxed, as is usual. Black cloth cover with quarter leather. Spine with the "W" of "Wait's" and "Narrative" just visible, with a rather odd spine repair with three leather strips placed over original black spine, which is rubbed. Item #11237
Price: $350.00