Oroonoko
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Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave is a work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn, first published in 1688 by William Canning and reprinted later that year in the compilation Three Histories by Mrs. A. Behn. The
Thomas Southerne
…the part of the heroine, disguised as Sir Anthony Love, was excellently played by Mrs Mountfort, was his best. He scored another conspicuous success in Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave (1696). For the plot of this he was again indebted to the novel by [Aphra] Behn." The Wives' Excuse (1669) was a play Southerne…
First edition cover
Portrait of Aphra Behn, aged approximately 30, by Peter Lely. From the Yale Center for British Art
Anne Bracegirdle appearing in John Dryden's The Indian Queen in a headdress of feathers purportedly given by Aphra Behn to Thomas Killigrew. Scholars speculate that Behn had this headdress from her time in Surinam.
An engraving by William Blake illustrating "A negro hung by his ribs from a gallows," opposite page 116 in Captain John Stedman's Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, 1792. The hanging took place in the then-Dutch ruled Surinam, an example of the barbarity of punishments of slaves, and the reputation of Surinam.