Book Subscribers of Formerly Enslaved English Authors, 1782-1794

Dataset CreatorsAlisa Chen, Northeastern UniversityChinma Nnadozie-Okananwa, Northeastern UniversityThis dataset concerns the relationship between two sets of people: three formerly enslaved Black authors and 6,547 names of subscribers representing as many as 4,000 unique individuals who financially supported those authors. It provides a snapshot of England’s publishing industry in the late eighteenth century, and how Black Britons navigated it before the Slavery Abolition Act in 1834. All three authors were enslaved at some point in their lifetime, and their books formed key touchstones in published debates around slavery. The books’ subscriber lists serve as a documentary record of the broader social circles that financially supported and publicly affiliated themselves with their writing.First, it is useful to clarify what relationship is recorded by a book’s list of subscribers. The act of “subscribing” in the eighteenth-century publishing industry was similar to the process of crowdfunding today. Printing was an expensive process and therefore a financial risk: printing too many copies of a book meant a waste of money and materials in unsold inventory, whereas printing too few copies meant paying twice for typesetting if a second edition was needed. Usually, at this time, authors sold their copyrights directly to publishers, with no system of royalties or other additional compensation if the book sold well. In other words, publishers faced the majority of the risk and also reaped the potential benefits of a bestseller. Authors who did not wish to sell their copyright (or could not attract a publisher) could self-publish instead, but this came with the burden of paying all the costs of book production up front. A small number of authors opted for a middle path by securing commitments from readers in advance; these readers became “subscribers.” Typically, subscribers paid half the price of the book up front and half on receipt, but specific arrangements varied. Whether readers provided funds in advance (as in a modern crowdfunding campaign) or only a promise to purchase (as in a modern pre-order), the author could have confidence that they would not be left bankrupted by unsold books. Often, authors demonstrated gratitude to their supporters— and sought to provide them with some social cachet as patrons— by publishing a list of their names in the final book. These subscriber lists thus serve as a historical record of the book’s financial supporters.Ignatius Sancho’s Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African, published in 1782, lists a total of 1,181 subscribers. Sancho’s biographer says he was born on a slave ship in 1729; as a child he was forced to work for a wealthy family in Greenwich before he attracted the patronage of the Duke of Montagu, who brought Sancho into his household. During his life, Sancho was a butler, grocer, voter, and composer. Sancho achieved some literary celebrity in his lifetime due to his published correspondence with the sentimental author Laurence Sterne. Sancho died in 1780, and his letters were published posthumously. The book was a success, reprinted several times. Only the first volume relied on subscriptions; accordingly, this dataset only includes that 1782 first edition.Quobna Ottobah Cugoano’s Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery, published in 1791, lists a total of 165 subscribers. As a child, Cugoano was kidnapped from present-day Ghana and enslaved, working on plantations in Grenada. He was brought to England, where he gained his freedom and, in 1773, was baptized as John Stuart. In England, Cugoano was a political activist with the abolitionist group Sons of Africa and worked as a servant for Richard and Maria Cosway, both painters. Cugoano’s Thoughts and Sentiments appeared in three forms, of which only one was published with a subscriber list. In 1787, he published a 148-page work titled Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, as well as a four-page prospectus that provides a summary of the longer version. In 1788, a French translation was published in Paris. In 1791, he published a shorter revised version with a slightly different title, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery; Or, the Nature of Servitude as Admitted by the Law of God, Compared to the Modern Slavery of the Africans. This fifty-four-page work concludes with a list of subscribers, including “Mr. William Hall, No. 25, Prince-Street” who purchased forty copies and may therefore have been a bookseller or a fellow activist involved in the distribution of the book.Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano was published in ten editions between 1789 and 1794, all by subscription. He promoted the book through extensive book tours, printing new editions as he traveled and re-curating each edition’s list to make space for the newest subscribers. The first edition, published in 1789, lists a total of 311 subscribers; the last edition, from 1794, lists 894 subscribers. All the lists together have as many as 2,720 unique subscribers across 5,201 entries.1 Like Cugoano, Equiano was kidnapped and enslaved as a child, from modern-day Nigeria. His life was turbulent, but by 1789 he was a free man and prominent activist living in England. Equiano’s Interesting Narrative is an autobiography; he writes about his enslavement, religious conversion, freedom, merchant career (including his time as a slave trader himself), and abolitionist advocacy.All three lists follow the organizational convention of clustering subscribers by the first letter of their last name, and then clustering all the names within each letter in order of their social rank. For example, the “K” section of Equiano’s first edition list begins with “The Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird,” then “William Kendall, Esq.,” then “Mr. William Ketland,” followed by four other “Mr.”s with a “Reverend” mixed among them. The names are not alphabetized among persons of equal rank; it is possible that they are listed in chronological order of when the subscription was received, or they may appear entirely arbitrarily. Equiano also lists his most elevated subscribers above the “A” section, a technique used by authors who wished to display specific patrons with particular pride. For Equiano, those patrons are the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and, beginning in the second edition, the Duke of Cumberland.As physical artifacts, the three authors’ lists represent the variety that prevailed among eighteenth-century subscriber lists. Sancho’s list presents names on an elegant expanse of mostly-empty paper, with one name per line and relatively little information per name. There are few first names, and no occupations or cities of residence. Nor are there signs of abbreviations in order to fit the information to the page. The result is a list that occupies forty-one pages at the beginning of the volume – by far the longest list published that year by its page count, and nearly twice the pages of the next-longest. In contrast, both Equiano’s and Cugoano’s lists are visually denser.Cugoano’s subscriber list includes a street of residence for most subscribers; even with a “ditto” for repeated streets, the page appears full of ink. The street often takes the place of the elevated title information which appears in the other lists. For example, “Richard Cosway, Esq.” on Equiano’s list is “Mr. Cosway, Stratford-place” on Cugoano’s list.Equiano’s list in the first edition looks largely like Sancho’s, though with more first names and an added note when subscribers purchased more than one copy. The later editions show that Equiano continually curated his list. The second edition only added new names (inserted where they belonged among the previous subscribers by social rank, as described above), but beginning with the third edition he also removed names.2 Beginning with the fourth edition, published in Dublin, the names were clustered into sub-lists by region; that edition begins with “A List of Irish Subscribers” followed by “A List of English Subscribers,” and the last edition has eight sub-lists. Beginning with the fifth edition, Equiano began presenting names in two columns to save space.The subscribers of these three books include a wide spectrum of people, from the aristocratic to the working class, representing as many as 4,000 individuals who financially aided Black Britons during a politically contested period decades before the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1834 in England. Examining these names, we can discover intriguing new connections within the worlds of politics and literature, and between individuals with very different backgrounds in terms of social class, career field, and geography.A particularly exciting set of connections to trace within these lists is evidence of the connections between Black Britons. For example, “William, the son of Ignatius Sancho” appears on all nine of Equiano’s subscriber lists – one of the very few names that does not include a formal title like “Mr.”; his connection to his father instead stands in as the most important marker of his ‘place’ within society. Similarly, “Ottobah Cugoano, or John Stewart” appears in editions one through four of Equiano, i.e., all editions that appeared before Cugoano’s presumed disappearance or death in 1791. A less confident identification is “Mr. William Green” on Equiano’s editions six through nine, “Mr. Green, Wood-Street, Cheapside” on Cugoano’s list and the simple “Mr. Green” on Sancho’s list. All three of these could plausibly reflect the support of William Green, a Black Briton who joined Cugoano in abolitionist activism in 1786. The street addresses in Cugoano’s list are particularly tantalizing as an entry point for the study of abolitionist London, as they could enable more confident identification of individuals.The lists also allow us to trace the actions of white abolitionists. Beilby Porteys, listed under various forms of his title as Lord Bishop of Chester, appears on Sancho’s subscriber list in 1782, and all of Equiano’s lists starting with the second edition in 1789 – but not on Equiano’s first edition, or Cugoano’s list. Similarly, “Right Honourable Charles James Fox” subscribed to Sancho, and is presumably the same person as the “Charles Fox” who subscribed for two copies starting with Equiano’s seventh edition in 1793, and may even be the “Mr. Fox, Edgware-road” on Cugoano’s list. It is harder to evaluate the reach of Cugoano’s list, because he listed his subscribers more modestly, with few first names and titles: the “The Hon. George Pitt, M. P.” who appears in every edition of Equiano is certainly the noted abolitionist, but it is harder to be confident that he is also “Mr. Pitt, Ogle-Street, Mary-le-bone” on Cugoano’s list. (George Pitt is certainly not on Sancho’s list, though a “Mr. Thomas Pitt” did subscribe to Sancho.)Some additional abolitionists to note: as subscribers to Equiano but not Sancho or Cugoano, we find Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp, William Dolben, John Wesley,3 Peter Peckard, James Ramsay, Henry Thornton, Carl Bernhard Wadström, Hannah More, Thomas Bellamy, and Josiah Wedgwood. William Wilberforce subscribed to none of the three. In general, Sancho’s list appears to pre-date the involvement of most abolitionists who would later cite his work as important evidence for the humanity of Black people, and Cugoano appears to have had a limited social reach, whereas Equiano eventually accumulated nearly every major figure associated with the cause of abolition.It would also be highly interesting to examine which subscribers to these books were themselves complicit in slavery. Given the need to appeal to wealthy and majority-white audiences for patronage, and the contested status of slavery during this period of change, it is possible that white enslavers might not even have seen it as hypocritical to subscribe to these books without divesting from slavery. To date, we have identified one evocative example of an enslaver who is also a subscriber: Sir Charles Bunbury, who subscribed only to Sancho’s book. Bunbury was Sancho’s neighbor; he was closely connected to some of Sancho’s correspondents, and Sancho served as a professional reference for a Black steward hired into Bunbury’s household in 1775. Bunbury was also an absentee landlord profiting from estates in Grenada and Dominica, which were worked by enslaved laborers. The same year he subscribed to Sancho’s book, Bunbury was one of 265 West Indian estate-owners who signed an open letter requesting military intervention to reclaim property captured by the United States during the ongoing American Revolutionary War – “property” that included not just the physical plantations, but also the enslaved workers.4 After 1784, Bunbury’s political interests changed, and he eventually supported the abolition of slavery. Nevertheless, he did not subscribe to Equiano’s or Cugoano’s books, and at his death in 1821 he still owned plantations in Grenada. He thus illustrates the mixed or hypocritical relationship that white subscribers might have with the books of formerly enslaved Black Britons; we might assume that many of the less-famous names on these lists reflect a similarly ambivalent relationship to the history of slavery.Finally, the lists also enable intriguing comparisons between the three authors. For Sancho, what is most striking is the gender of his subscribers: whereas Cugoano’s subscriber list is 96% male, and Equiano’s combined lists are 91% male, Sancho’s list is only 72% male. The higher number of female subscribers to Sancho better matches the demographics of women’s writing published by subscription in the 1780s, and may reflect either his positioning as generally “sentimental” rather than political, or the fact that it was a woman (Frances Crewe) who undertook the work of collecting his subscriptions posthumously. In Equiano’s case, we are immediately struck with his strategic use of the lists as a publicity tool, and especially the close connections between stops on his book tours, subscriptions gathered in specific cities, and new editions. Additionally, Equiano actually has a slightly smaller percentage of subscribers with “elevated” titles than Sancho – 26% across all editions, compared to 30% for Sancho5 – but he cultivated an important reputation for the illustriousness of his supporters, tied to his promotion of abolition as not only moral but respectable. And, finally, in Cugoano’s case our attention is drawn to his surprisingly egalitarian presentation of his supporters’ names: at least a few subscribers who appear in his pages with a simple “Mr.” and street address were prominent luminaries of London society, but he places them on an with This presentation his possible connections to religious whereas of Sancho’s subscribers and of Equiano’s subscribers are listed with a religious title, none appear on Cugoano’s list. Cugoano’s simple presentation of his subscription list to the of the volume rather than the a to egalitarian politics more their as Black authors publishing by their subscription lists the different each author navigated his as a formerly enslaved Black Briton before the of we only the of how a study of book subscriptions might our of the around slavery and at this can better the three authors by their surprisingly by different of and There are a number of other in the lists can an interesting new through their connection to one of the formerly enslaved Black authors in in the late eighteenth most the translation of the lists into it possible to study those names are not and how different – especially of – might that in these names, many new entry to this of Thoughts and on the or Or, the of as by the of God, compared to the modern slavery of the in the in an to the for slavery and to the of by a and sold the No. 1791. The interesting of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or the by for and sold by the No. and sold for the for and sold by the for and sold by the American and sold by 1791. for and sold by the 1791. for and sold by the for and sold by the for and sold by the for and sold by the for and sold by the Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho, an In two To which are of his by the subscriber lists were from in For some of Equiano’s editions, were from the or one a name a second of the same book was for Equiano’s fifth edition has been and was in the at the are a total of 6,547 in this 165 for Cugoano, 5,201 for Equiano, and 1,181 for The majority of the columns record information about the subscribers: and The columns record information about the book subscribed and the that subscribers are listed in their list. This is not in the but has been added because the order of names on the list can be highly we to allow to to this the by a different For “Mr. is the first name listed on Cugoano’s subscriber list. the entry for is The for each edition, the first name on Equiano’s first edition list – the Prince of – is also listed as the entry for each subscriber This therefore a wide of and There are many and have these to that they are and not in The same person is to be listed slightly when on even when on different editions of Equiano’s list. It is therefore important not to the of as an of For example, “Mr. Thomas on Sancho’s list is very to be the same person as “Mr. Thomas of on three of Equiano’s which is certainly the same person as “Mr. Thomas of a from Equiano’s most those as three would be to the between which is the of our at this our most intervention in the For each we a gender on their title, first name, or additional entry include for male, for for two of different together on one and or or for dataset provides a of on the highly of names in eighteenth-century England. The majority of the names are identified as or which we have from titles as and or “Mr.” and and from names as and titles that would not be as and have been as because were from these a title was not by gender and was by as the of we did not use it to a all subscribers appear with either a first name or a title that a For example, “Mr. the Duke of and and “A are all listed as whereas and “The Right Hon. the of are all listed as The for example, and are for not they have and we have recorded their as or To our there was only one across all the lists on Sancho’s three a is listed together in one entry and their is recorded as as in the case of “Right Hon. Lord and this to that the a of the book and be as only one In contrast, and are listed on two on Sancho’s subscriber list, that they two and are recorded as and rather than as a of some is our to and information about the social of the subscribers. The columns and the social titles of each and them into This involved many more in our The themselves are on our of and social For example, our includes many who could more be our was to generally together those who are to be and to In contrast, we and titles because we the of abolition and to be of particular may wish to use the and information in the to these social to their listed every title to a name, and every For we listed each title and in the same more than one title in the into the same it does not repeated For the for “Right Hon. Lord and would be Right the would be though both and are aristocratic they into the same of includes the address information directly from the without its or information to the information for to possible or for these subscribers. that in we only addresses that provide a street or other information more specific than a name Sancho’s subscribers all address many of Equiano’s subscribers include a only one subscriber provided an the other most of Cugoano’s subscribers include some of address For subscribers with a “ditto” at the of their names, the previous address information is then For the record of “Mr. Edgware-road” is “Mr. the subscriber also has a of The various of a as or recorded in the as they but we it more useful for the to record the information tied to each To the and columns broader and more later editions of Equiano’s book subscribers into as “A List of Irish Subscribers” or of at this information is very for it is recorded in both its presentation and a to subscribers who For example, for “Mr. William Hall, No. 25, is listed as its a of copies may be in order to show support to the author or to the among their those of copies are as them. For example, in Equiano’s American is certainly a purchase in his professional the did not include a specific the is left we can assume that these subscribers paid for just one columns are not particularly but serve to which book the subscription is These are the and The information the title page of the the provides the English number of the edition from which all of that information was for and for the