These covers feature the bookplate of Edward Palk, High Street chemist and member of the Southampton Anti-Slavery Society, founded in March 1825. This organisation's abolitionist resolve was galvanised by a local petition in January 1824 endorsing the government's plan to support West Indian slaves. Many local members of the nobility and merchants who retained extensive holdings in the West Indies shot the motion down and set the scene for a decade of highly charged political debate.
