John Greenleaf Whittier [1807-1892] was one of the earliest and most energetic of the Abolitionists. His poems were published by William Lloyd Garrison and became the lyric and song of many of the anti-slavery movements. Often described as one of the Fireside Poets, the term is too soft. He was thorny and salty . . . a John the Baptist of a man. 

I cannot recommend reading him highly enough. He's a staple around our place. 

The Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier. With Illustrations. Boston. Houghton, Mifflin and Co. 1892. 491pp.

Very attractive half leather with unusual peach / orange tone marbled boards and foredges. The endpapers match as well. Aside from minor rubbing, in very good condition. A lovely copy issued the year of Whittier's death.

THE SLAVE SHIPS

"All ready?" cried the captain;
"Ay ay!" the seamen said;
"Heave up the worthless lubbers, - 
The dying and the dead."
Up from the slave-ship's prison
Fierce, bearded heads were thrust:
"Now let the sharks look to it - 
Toss up the dead ones first!"

Corpse after corpse came up, - 
Death had been busy there;
Where every blow is mercy,
Why should the spoiler spare?
Corpse after corpse they cast
Sullenly from the ship,
Yet bloody with the traces
Of fetter-link and whip.

. . . 

Hark! from the ship's dark bosom,
The very sounds of hell!
The ringing clank of iron, - 
The maniac's short, sharp yell! - 
The hoarse, low curse, throat-stifled, - 
The starving infant's moan, - 
The horror of a breaking heart
Poured through a mother's groan. 

. . . 

God of the earth! what cries
Rang upward unto thee?
Voices of agony and blood,
From ship-deck and from sea.
The last dull plunge was heard, - 
The last wave caught its stain, - 
And the unsated shark looked up
For human hearts in vain.