In the silence of the Lolan Palace, sheltered from the coastal heat, rests a document that has no known equivalent in West Africa. The Grand Livre des Lawson is a chronological register kept by the royal family of Aného between 1841 and 1938—nearly a century of commercial correspondence, diplomatic notes, and family chronicles, written in Victorian English and Mina. This manuscript, preserved in Aného, was the subject of an academic publication by Oxford University Press in 2005 under the direction of Adam Jones and Peter Sebald. It constitutes one of the most valuable sources for understanding Atlantic trade from an African perspective.
A Unique Register
Atlantic trade archives are overwhelmingly European: logbooks, consular correspondence, customs registers. African voices are almost always absent, or filtered through a colonial lens. The Grand Livre des Lawson reverses this perspective. Here, it is the Guin merchants who keep the accounts. They are the ones noting ship arrivals and departures, negotiated prices, matrimonial alliances, and visits by foreign dignitaries.
The register covers the most tumultuous period in Aného's history: the end of the slave trade, the transition to legitimate commerce (palm oil, cotton, copra), the arrival of missionaries, the establishment of the German protectorate, World War I, and the transition to a French mandate. Through the entries in the Grand Livre, one can follow the constant adaptation of a family that understood its survival depended on its ability to navigate between powers.
What the Manuscript Contains
The original manuscript takes the form of several bound notebooks, totaling hundreds of pages. The entries are dated, often daily during periods of intense commercial activity. Within it, one finds:
- Ship movements: captain's name, flag, cargo, dates of arrival and departure.
- Commercial transactions: volumes of palm oil, cotton, and copra traded; applied prices; European partners.
- Diplomatic correspondence: copies of letters sent to colonial governors and European sovereigns.
- Family events: births, marriages, deaths, successions.
- Visits by personalities: missionaries, explorers, colonial officials.
The primary language is English—a reflection of George Lawson I's British education and the family's Anglophile orientation. But Mina appears regularly, particularly in personal notes and commentary on local events. This linguistic alternation is itself a fascinating testament to the cultural hybridity of 19th-century West African coastal elites.
Publication by Oxford University Press
In 2005, historians Adam Jones (Universität Leipzig) and Peter Sebald published An African Family Archive: The Lawsons of Little Popo/Aneho (Togo) 1841-1938 through Oxford University Press. The work offers a critical edition of the manuscript, complete with explanatory notes, maps, genealogical trees, and a substantial historical introduction.
The publication was hailed by the academic community as a major contribution to the history of Atlantic trade. For the first time, an African document of this magnitude was made accessible to researchers worldwide. The work also exists in a French edition by L'Harmattan, in two volumes, under the title Les Lawson d'Aného : une archive familiale africaine.
Why This Book Matters for Aného
The Grand Livre des Lawson is not just a historical document. It is an act of memory. For the descendants of the Lawson family, it is written proof of their lineage's past greatness. For historians of Togo, it is an irreplaceable source on a period where official archives are rare and often biased. For visitors to Aného, it holds the promise of a history that refuses to be told solely by the victors.
The original manuscript is still preserved at the Lolan Palace. Consulting it requires permission from the royal family. Digitization projects are currently under consideration, which would allow this fragile heritage to be preserved and made accessible to a wider audience.