<<Stedman, John Gabriel.>> Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam…on the Wild Coast of South America…Elucidating the History of that Country.

<<A vivid account of the slave rebellion in Dutch Guiana WITH AN EARLY DESCRIPTION of the First Jewish Community IN THE AMERICAS.>> “Here the Jews have a beautiful synagogue, and keep their solemn fasts and festivals; here they also have their capital schools and seminaries, for at this village reside some very respectable Jewish families. These people possess particular rights and privileges in this colony…and such are these privileges I never knew Jews to possess in any other part of the world whatever.” (Vol. II p.292). The Jewish Community of Surinam in the Dutch West Indies, represents the oldest Jewish settlement in the Western Hemisphere. The historic Sephardic Congregation was situated some ten miles from Paramaribo in a settlement up the river known as the “Savannah of the Jews” (Joden Savanne). The Jews possessed high socio-economic status and enjoyed a remarkable degree of autonomy. The Community in Surinam felt itself closely bound to both Amsterdam (the mother of the earliest synagogues in the Americas) and New York’s Shearith Israel. This was due to both tradition and family ties, as well as the bonds of commerce. In 1832 the synagogue at Joden Savanne was destroyed by fire, soon after, civil revolt against the slave-trade, as well as the inroads of the climate, led to the abandonment of the Jewish colony of which nothing but the jungle-ruin now remains. See M.A. Cohen, Sephardim in the Americas, American Jewish Archives vol. XLIV (1992) pp.142-3. Stedman’s narrative is “a model of what such a book should be…The field of [Stedman’s] curiosity embraced not only all branches of natural history, but also economic and social conditions.” (DNB). The work is profusely illustrated, including sixteen engravings by William Blake.