M'Henry, James. The Pleasures of Friendship, and other poems. Dublin: Thomas Tegg and Company, 1838. [11196]
Lavender cloth, faded, gilt faded from spine, 4 3/4 x 3 1/8 inches, all page edges gilt. 207 clean pp., 2 pp. publisher's adverts. The book is shaken, with nothing detached. Fair. Hardcover.
The author's introduction to the Pleasures of Friendship outlines the poem, which relates the times friendship has been broken, from the death of Abel, to modern times, and "the consolations of this feeling to Negroes in a state of slavery - The miserable condition of Christian slaves in the Barbary States"...and of "the memorable expedition against Algiers in the year 1816" and the liberation "without ransom, all the Christian slaves in its possession..."
James M'Henry (1785-1845), b. & d. at Larne, in northern Ireland. He studied medicine at Glasgow University and opened a practice in Larne, before emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1817, where he lived for 25 years, before returning to Ireland. He was noted as a friend and admirer of Andrew Jackson, and in 1842 upon his return to Ulster he was appointed American Consul in Londonderry during the administration of President John Tyler. He became "one of the most celebrated writers and novelists of his generation. He was Editor of the American Monthly Magazine...the characters of M'Henry's works were predominantly Ulster-Scots...[he] was a hugely significant figure...regarded as the first 'Irish-American' novelist..." - Mark Thompson, The life and writings of James M'Henry of Larne (1785-1845) at clydesburndotblogspotdotcom.
