As the title suggests, the engraving shows a large auction in the New Orleans Rotunda. At separate podiums, three auctioneers simultaneously take bids on a painting (left), a family of slaves (center), and a manuscript (right). In the foreground, several traders lean and sit casually on barrels and crates as they watch the slave auction. Bidders for the painting and manuscript look somewhat more genteel. The engraver's emphasis the light streaming though the Rotunda's oculus may represent an ironic commentary on the events taking place within it., Frontispiece for volume one of James Silk Buckingham's The Slave States of America (London; Paris: Fisher, Son, & Co. Newgate St. London; rue St. Honoré, Paris [1842])., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
Creator
Starling, J. M., engraver
Date
[1842]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Am 1842 Buc 10584.O v 1 frontispiece, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2774
