Folio. 43 issues. All with old central horizontal folds. Lightly browned and creased in places, occasional short tears, several issues uncut and unopened. A collection of forty-three issues of The British Emancipator, a pioneering newspaper, published under the superintendence of the Central Negro Emancipation Committee, an organisation devoted to anti-slavery causes and the abolition of the apprenticeship system which had arisen following the abolition of slavery in the British Colonies. The paper was first published on 27th December, 1837, and was issued every alternate Wednesday at three pence until publication ceased 10th January, 1840. From the outset the paper did not shy from declamatory rhetoric: 'The fact cannot be concealed - Slavery has not been abolished! - the Demon has but changed its name; and, under its assumed disguise, it still revels in all its wonted recklessness of crime, and continues to inflict its countless wrong, its sufferings, and its brutal degradations on its hapless victims.' The first issue commenced with a definitive statement of intent, namely, 'the exposure of the true character of the Apprentice system; violations of the Imperial Act by Colonial Parties; [and] illustration of the actual Condition of the Apprentice Population', with additional attention 'devoted to the progress of the great struggle in the Question of Slavery in America, and in other countries.' Issues were comprised solely of news relating the subject of slavery and the apprentice system, in particular the deplorable conditions of the emancipated population of the Caribbean, accounts of related parliamentary debates and commissions, and case studies of mistreatment of former slaves across the colonies. When the apprentice system was abolished in August 1838, the pretext of the paper was somewhat diminished. Nonetheless it continued to report on the maltreatment of emancipated individuals, though its decline was evident. The newspaper was succeeded by The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter, launched as the official journal of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, the initial issue of which was provided gratis to subscribers to the British Emancipator.