A Short Treatise on the English Tongue. Being an Attempt to render the Reading and Pronunciation of the Same More Easy to Foreigners.
London: Printed for R. Horsfield in Ludgate Street, and I. Allix in Glanville Street, Rathbone Place, 1767. Hardcover. Written anonymously by Granville Sharp (1735 - 1813), classicist, author, musician and one of the earliest British campaigners against slavery. Sharp devised the plan to settle freed blacks in Sierra Leone, and is considered one of the founding fathers of the nation. Sharp was instrumental in assisting James Somersett, an American slave who came to England and escaped from his owner; Somersett's Case of 1772 was a victory for Sharp and Somersett in that it forced the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Lord Mansfield, to acknowledge that English law did not in fact allow slavery and thus Somersett became a free man the moment he arrived in English territory. 8vo, (xviii), 30pp, (12), 9, 1 (errata). Green gilt edged boards, lacking spine. Front board and first few pages detached, otherwise very good. OCLC: 11272073. Item #18357
Price: $750.00