The Negro Alphabet - An Unusual ABC Book

The paper string bound book entitled "The Negro Alphabet" was printed in Kingston, Jamaica by Ashton W. Gardner & Company and drawn by V. Heaven.  Searches have turned up no information about this title, no information about the publisher, and nothing about the artist.  The publisher has an English name, and as a white horsewoman appears on one page in the book, my best guess is that the publishing company was part of the British community that operated the sugar cane plantations throughout the island.  The book is in terrible condition, challenged even after a complete restoration.  The climate of Jamaica would be the most likely culprit for this damage, as any Caribbean locale is extremely hard on paper. This alphabet book is not dated, but likely comes from the late 19th Century, when these colloquialisms were still in use.It is difficult to determine the audience for this book.  My guess is that it might have been for an European, more specifically British, Market, but I could not find a record of this book anywhere.  If the book was solely for domestic consumption, and for sales to visitors, it becomes more remarkable.  It was not an expensive project, with nine pages total, printed in a 13" x 10" black and white format.  Yet, the contents of the book, the illustrated topics for each letter of the alphabet, do not reflect any pejorative attitude toward the native black population in Jamaica.  Each page contains a number of letters, with an expression in Jamaican dialect with a translation below.  If one were to put this publication in a category, anthropology or linguistics would be the most accurate.  Expressed in the book is an appreciation for the strange and convoluted dialect that developed in Jamaica after the advent of British control.There is also an appreciation for the suffering that black Jamaicans had endured.  For example "B is a  Bukra - A berry bahd man"  translated as "B is a Bukra (white person) - A very bad man".But - the main fascination here - the surprising ways in which the English language can be transmuted - is expressed on every page.Two of my favorite examples are: "W is - Wurrah!  Me de clear me forget!", which translates as W is Worry!  I declare I forget!  illustrated with a portrait of an old woman...and  "D is a Duppy, him yi tan like fiat", which translates as D is a Duppy (a ghost), his eye is like fire”  with an illustration of the "Rollin calf Duppy" or the ghost of a cow.I cannot be sure if there are any pockets on the Jamaican island where these forms of English are still spoken, but it is intriguing to see these expressions in print.Please review the rest of the pages, add your comment below and/or share this blog with your friends on facebook.