Leonora Sansay, 1808

[SANSAY, Leonora (1773-1821).] Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo, in a Series of Letters, written by a Lady at Cape Francois to Colonel Burr, Late Vice-President of the United States, principally during the Command of General Rochambeau. Philadelphia: R. Carr for Bradford & Inskeep, 1808.

Intriguing semi-fictional epistolary narrative by a Federalist-era femme-fatale, documenting the final days of French rule in Haiti and her subsequent travels through the Caribbean. Leonora, also known as Honora, Clara, Nora, Mary Hassal, and "Madame D'Auvergne," was a close confidant of Aaron Burr. This book comprises fictionalized letters written by her to him during her disastrous trip to Haiti on the eve of the revolution with her boorish husband, from whom she later had flee in Cuba, escaping to Jamaica before returning to Philadelphia. She was afterwards implicated in the Burr conspiracy, appearing in documents of the time under several aliases. The present work was published after his acquittal, perhaps capitalizing on Burr's notoriety at the time.

According to Joan Dayan, "no other writer recording those apocalyptic days provides as intense or so narrowly focused a representation." Her account describes the cruelty of French rule and its effects particularly on women, complicated by the strict racial hierarchies of the French colony. "A white woman from Philadelphia, immured in a world construed as white, she nonetheless describes from her 'prison' a society in such detail that readers can begin to understand the contradictions, rendered even more blatant by unprecedented events, that brought an end to the 'Pearl of the Antilles'" (Dayan). Leonora was also the author of several other novels, including one based on the experiences documented here: Zelica: the Creole, which is perhaps the first American novel with a non-white heroine. A remarkable book, documenting the life and observations of a fascinating woman in a tumultous time. The last copy recorded by RBH at auction was in the 1990s. Wright 2279; Sabin 30807. See Joan Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods (1996).

12mo (178 x 105mm). (A few chips to blank margins, some repaired; browning.) Contemporary calf (rebacked, preserving original pastedowns). Provenance: Richard Humphryes (inscription) – Lucretia Hartt, Setauket (numerous inscriptions) – Maria Gerome (inscription).