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Catalogue 260 Colonial Americana |
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Section I: Acadia to Clough |
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Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
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1. [Acadia Dispute]: A FAIR REPRESENTATION OF HIS MAJESTY’S RIGHT TO NOVA-SCOTIA OR ACADIE. BRIEFLY STATED FROM THE MEMORIALS OF THE ENGLISH COMMISSAIRES; WITH AN ANSWER TO THE OBJECTIONS CONTAINED IN THE FRENCH MEMORIALS, AND IN A TREATISE, ENTITLED, DISCUSSION SOMMAIRE SUR LES ANCIENNES LIMITES DE L’ACADIE. London: Printed by Edward Owen, 1756. 64pp. Modern half morocco over linen boards, spine gilt. Contemporary manuscript annotation on titlepage. Titlepage lightly stained and dusty, internally clean and crisp. A very good copy. A restatement of Britain’s claims in the dispute over Nova Scotia and the area south of the St. Lawrence, east of Lake Champlain, and north of the Massachusetts area. This pamphlet, by William Shirley and William Mildmany, the British commissioners appointed in 1748 to resolve the dispute with the French, stresses the importance of the area to British trade and the security of the other North American colonies. The work specifically refutes several French pamphlets, including Mairobert’s Discussion sommaire. BELL F8. LANDE 216. TPL 246. SABIN 56129. $2000. 2. [Adams, Samuel]: AN APPEAL TO THE WORLD; OR A VINDICATION OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON, FROM MANY FALSE AND MALICIOUS ASPERSIONS CONTAINED IN CERTAIN LETTERS AND MEMORIALS, WRITTEN BY GOVERNOR BERNARD, GENERAL GAGE, COMMODORE HOOD, THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF CUSTOMS, AND OTHERS, AND BY THEM RESPECTIVELY TRANSMITTED TO THE BRITISH MINISTRY. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TOWN. Boston, Printed; London, Reprinted: J. Almon 1770. [2],58pp. Modern three-quarter morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Near fine. Second British edition, following the first American and British editions of the previous year. "A defense of Boston’s reputation against Governor Bernard’s accounts to the ministry of ill-behaviour by the British patriots. Governor Bernard’s correspondence with London had recently been published in Boston by William Bollans. Adams turned the correspondence to good political account, but some of the plain facts it revealed put the Americans in a bad light and necessitated this defense, one of Adams’ important pamphlets in the series of events that culminated the next year in the Boston Massacre" – Streeter. Sometimes attributed to William Cooper. HOWES A71. SABIN 6478. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 62d. AMERICAN CONTROVERSY 69-7d. STREETER SALE 701 (ref). $1500. 3. Aguecheek, Andrew [pseud]: THE UNIVERSAL AMERICAN ALMANACK, OR, YEARLY ASTRONOMICAL, HISTORICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE...FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1764.... Philadelphia: Printed by Andrew Steuart, [1763]. [40]pp. including one in-text woodcut illustration. 12mo. Printed self-wrappers, stitched. Additional stab holes in blank gutter. Light soiling on titlepage, scattered foxing. Else very good, untrimmed. The fifth annual Universal American Almanack by "Andrew Aguecheek" (the pseudonym is taken from the character in Twelfth Night), containing a wealth of information and entertainment. In addition to the calendar, the present issue includes tables for calculating meat prices and personal income and expenses; lists of Quaker meetings, fairs, roads from Philadelphia, and North American courts; a "brief chronology" of important events, relating primarily to the New World; and a variety of poetry, maxims, anecdotes, and essays, including a "true and particular History of Free-Masonry, shewing its first rise, what it is, and how it first came to be." The woodcut illustration, "The Anatomy of Man’s Body, as govern’d by the Twelve Constellations," appears on page [3]. DRAKE 9869. EVANS 9319. NAIP w022856. $1250. Attacking the South Sea Company 4. [American Trade]: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE AMERICAN TRADE, BEFORE AND SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOUTH-SEA COMPANY. London: Printed for J. Roberts, 1739. 31pp. Half title. Modern half calf and marbled boards. Small tear in upper inner corner of half title. Near fine. According to Sabin, this text was "written by a Jamaican merchant of some credit and reputation in London." It discusses the Assiento, by which Great Britain received a monopoly on the slave trade in the Americas, trade relations with Spain, and the monopoly on trade with Jamaica held by the South Sea Company. The author argues that the South Sea Company has done little to advance British commerce in the Caribbean or to protect British rights there, and proposes instead that their monopoly be relinquished and that private, competitive trade be allowed. Opposing views were published in 1740. A powerful argument in favor of a vigorous and open British trade in the Caribbean. A rare tract. SABIN 15962. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 739/72. HANSON 5336. SPERLING 568. GOLDSMITHS 7659. KRESS 4421. $3250. Massive Laws of Maryland 5. Bacon, Thomas, comp: LAWS OF MARYLAND AT LARGE, WITH PROPER INDEXES. NOW FIRST COLLECTED INTO ONE COMPLEAT BODY, AND PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL ACTS AND RECORDS, REMAINING IN THE SECRETARY’S OFFICE OF THE SAID PROVINCE. Annapolis: Printed by Jonas Green, Printer to the Province, 1765. [733]pp. including final errata leaf. Folio. Contemporary speckled calf, neatly rebacked, gilt label. Engraved bookplate on front pastedown. Titlepage vignette. Upper joint beginning to separate. Occasional minor soiling in margins. A very good copy. The first edition of this monumental production of the colonial press. Bacon, the compiler of this massive volume, was rector of All-Saints Parish in Frederick County, and domestic chaplain in Maryland to the Right Honorable Frederick Lord Baltimore. Bacon worked on the Laws... for thirteen years, and publication took an additional four years to complete. It is considered the most important legal work published in the colony, covering 1637 through 1763 and supplemented by extensive indices. The work is also noted for its typography, the quality of the printing, and the first appearance of the seal of Maryland on the titlepage. In A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland, 1686-1776, Lawrence C. Wroth describes the work as "not only the most important of the legal publications of the Province of Maryland, but it happens also to have been a specimen of typography which was not exceeded in dignity and beauty by any production of an American colonial press...In scholarly and systematic arrangement as well as in accuracy and completeness it excelled any of the former bodies of law which the Province had possessed...As an easy and dependable guide to the store-house of Maryland history it remains still without rival." A very good copy of a significant product of the British colonial press. EVANS 1004. WROTH MARYLAND 254. SABIN 2684. NAIP w007025. $3000. A Classic of American Natural History 6. Bartram, William: TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH & SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, EAST & WEST FLORIDA, THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY, THE EXTENSIVE TERRITORIES OF THE MUSCOGULGES, OR CREEK CONFEDERACY, AND THE COUNTRY OF THE CHACTAWS [sic].... Philadelphia: Printed by James & Johnson, 1791. [2],xxxiv,522pp. plus frontispiece portrait, folding map, and seven plates (one folding). Contemporary calf, sympathetically rebacked in matching calf, maroon morocco label. Rubbed. Frontispiece and title leaves reattached and remargined, not affecting text; minor loss to upper third of map, supplied in facsimile (about 10%), and affecting only a small portion of detail, mainly in the Atlantic. Instances of foxing and dampstaining. Else a very good copy. The rare first edition of one of the classic accounts of southern natural history and exploration, with much material on the southern Indian tribes. For the period, Bartram’s work is unrivalled; he travelled several thousand miles through the Southeast in the years just prior to the American Revolution. "...Bartram wrote with all the enthusiasm and interest with which the fervent old Spanish friars and missionaries narrated the wonders of the new found world...he neglected nothing which would add to the common stock of human knowledge" – Field. "Unequalled for the vivid picturesqueness of its descriptions of nature, scenery, and productions" – Sabin. Includes a chapter concerning the customs and language of the Muscogulges and Cherokees. An interesting association copy that remained in the Bartram family hands for quite a while. The present copy contains the ownership signature of George Washington Bartram (1784-1853), nephew of the author, on the verso of the frontispiece, and also contains Rachel Bartram’s ownership markings on the titlepage. HOWES B223, "b." CLARK I:197. EVANS 23159. SABIN 3870. VAIL 849. Coats, The Plant Hunters, pp.273-76. TAXONOMIC LITERATURE 329. STREETER SALE 1088. FIELD 94. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 301. SERVIES 669. $11,000. 7. [Bérnard de la Harpe, Jean Baptiste]: JOURNAL HISTORIQUE DE L’ÉSTABLISSEMENT DES FRANÇAIS A LA LOUISIANE. Paris: Hector Bossange, 1831. [4],412pp. Half title. Antique-style three-quarter calf and marbled boards, leather label. Ex-lib., with a couple ink stamps. Minor dampstaining throughout, an occasional pencil mark. Good. "This Journal historique, a reprinting without preface or notes of a manuscript giving no indication of its source, is written in the third person and is usually considered as by La Harpe. It tells, at pages 144-178, of La Harpe’s expedition from New Orleans in October, 1718, to establish a post on the Red River, from which he returned in January, 1720, and at pages 233-236 and pages 257-276 of two expeditions to St. Bernard’s Bay, the first in the summer and fall of 1720, and the second under command of La Harpe, which sailed August 15, 1721, and returned October 3. There is also an extensive account of the two St. Denis expeditions across Texas in 1714 and 1719, the first reference to this being on page 116" – Streeter. Although Streeter calls this a "reprinting," it is in fact the first printing of the text. Despite a dual imprint on the titlepage showing both New Orleans and Paris, this book was actually printed solely in Paris. Another imprint, that of Paul Renouard, appears on the verso of the half title. "Chief authority for the period covered, 1698-1723" – Howes. A surprisingly rare work, of major importance for the early history of Louisiana. JUMONVILLE 720. STREETER TEXAS 1126. HOWES L24, "aa." RAINES, p.134. SABIN 38631. $2750. First European Language Bible 8. [Bible in German]: BIBLIA, DAS IST: DIE HEILIGE SCHRIFT ALTES UND NEUES TESTAMENTS, NACH DER DEUTSCHEN UEBERSETZUNG D. MARTIN LUTHERS MIT JEDES CAPITELS FURTZEN SUMMARIEN, AUCH BENGEFÜGTEN VIELEN UND RICHTIGEN PARALLELEN; NEBST EINEM ANHANG DES DRITTEN UND VIERTEN BUCHS ESRA UND DES DRITTEN BUCHS DER MACCABAER. Germantown: Christoph Saur, 1743. [4],995,[1],277,[7]pp. printed in double columns. Ornamental capitals. Titlepage printed in red and black. Quarto. Contemporary calf over wood boards, rebacked in sympathetic modern tooled calf, raised bands. Original hardware present on the foredge of the boards, though the clasps are lacking. Titlepage stained. Text tanned, some staining. Several leaves chipped on foredge (with no loss of text), about a dozen leaves repaired along the foredge. Overall, a good copy. The first European language Bible printed in America, and the second Bible printed in America after John Eliot’s Indian Bibles of the 1660s. The text is based on Martin Luther’s version by way of the thirty-fourth edition of the Halle Bible, with Book Three of Edras, Book Four of Edras, and Book Three of Maccabees supplied from the Berlenburg Bible. Believed to have been printed in an edition of 1200 copies, of which slightly over one-tenth are known to have survived, and very few in such good condition. Christoph Saur was a native of Wittgenstein, Germany, who settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania and practiced medicine before turning to printing. Evans lists two variant titlepages of this first Saur Bible – this copy conforms to his second variant with the titlepage worded in a slightly different style. A good copy of a landmark in American religious and printing history. DARLOW & MOULE 4240. EVANS 5128. HILDEBURN 804. ARNDT 47. SEIDENSTICKER, p.20. NAIP w018551. $12,500. With Numerous Interesting Engravings 9. Bickham, George: A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES, BELONGING TO THE CROWN OF GREAT BRITAIN. London. 1747 [on the titlepage, but dated 1749 on the colophon of a non-American plate]. Twenty-seven engraved plates on the rectos only, numbered 164-190, with engraved cursive text, and the majority of the plates with engraved illustrations. Plus a folding map (meant to follow plate 7, but here bound in as the frontispiece). Plus a facsimile of the plate describing the map. Folio. Modern three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt, leather label. A touch of light foxing. Hole in gutter margin of first ten plates expertly repaired, not affecting the image. Very good. A remarkable work, created by George Bickham, consisting of text and illustrations that are entirely engraved. This work originally appeared in 1743 under the title, The British Monarchy, with a total of 280 engraved plates, but a few years later Bickham re-issued the twenty-one-plate American section, found here in its entirety. The text contains a historical and geographic description of the British colonies in America, with emphasis on Acadia, New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean. Nearly every engraved plate has an illustration showing American settlers, natives, wildlife, and rural scenes. This copy additionally has an engraved titlepage for this American section, one engraved page on the Electoral States, two engraved plates on settlements in Africa and India, and two engraved plates showing examples of calligraphic script. This copy also has Bickham’s folding map, "A Map of the King of Great Britain’s Dominions in Europe, Africa, and America," bound in as the frontispiece. The map shows the east coast of the Americas from Guiana up through the Caribbean, North America, and Hudson’s Bay. A most interesting work, and very scarce. HOWES B421, "aa." SABIN 5222 (note). JCB (3)III:895. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 747/15. $7500. New Sweden on the Delaware 10. Biorck, Tobias E.: DISSERTATIO GRADUALIS, DE PLANTATIONE ECCLESIAE SVECANAE IN AMERICA.... Uppsala. 1731. [8],34pp. including woodcut illustration, plus folding map. Small quarto. Modern paper boards, gilt leather label on front board. Old manuscript note at foot of titlepage. Lightly tanned. Map repaired at fold, with tape remnants on verso. Overall, a very good copy. The first book by a native-born American to be published in Sweden. It contains important information on the establishment of the New Sweden Mission in the mid-Atlantic region, and its early work. There is also interesting information on the local Minque Indians. Tobias Biorck was the son of a Swedish missionary who was sent to America in 1697 and founded the Swedish Lutheran church at Christina (Wilmington, Delaware) the following year. "The account contains much significant historical detail and is especially knowledgeable concerning the Indians" – Streeter. The map, engraved by Jonas Silfverling, shows parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The Streeter copy brought $1300 in 1967. Not in Field, and Siebert was apparently unable to acquire a copy. Rare and important. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 731/24. HOWES B458, "b." STREETER SALE 917. SABIN 5664, 28916. CHURCH 911. BELL B284. LARSON 98. $4500. 11. Bishop, George: NEW-ENGLAND JUDGED, BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD...CONTAINING A BRIEF RELATION OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE CALL’D QUAKERS IN NEW-ENGLAND, FROM THE TIME OF THEIR FIRST ARRIVAL THERE IN THE YEAR 1656 TO THE YEAR 1660...SECOND PART, BEING A FARTHER RELATION OF THE CRUEL AND BLOODY SUFFERINGS...FROM ANNO 1660, TO ANNO 1665...WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE WRITINGS OF SEVERAL OF THE SUFFERERS...ALSO, AN ANSWER TO COTTON MATHER’S ABUSES OF THE SAID PEOPLE, IN HIS LATE HISTORY OF NEW-ENGLAND.... London: Printed and Sold by T. Sowle, 1703/1702. [8],498, 212,[12]pp. (lacking the [2]pp. publisher’s advertisement leaf at end). Modern calf in handsome antique style, retaining original leather label. Old institutional blindstamp on first and final pages of text. Early ink signature on titlepage. Titlepage rebacked, some marginal loss to original title, affecting a few characters of text. Foxing and tanning, but good. Second edition of Bishop’s work, but the first combined edition of the two parts issued separately in 1661 and 1667, and the first edition to contain the appendix, Truth and Innocency Defended; Against Falsehood and Envy..., by John Whiting, which has its own separate titlepage and imprint. Bishop’s work is one of the great and reliable accounts of the Quaker persecutions in New England. While himself a resident of England, he was in receipt of correspondence from Friends in America, much of which forms the basis of this work. On Dec. 19, 1660 the Colony of Massachusetts sent to Prince Charles a petition defending the hanging of three Friends in their legal jurisdiction. Bishop was much incensed by this attempted defense, and this catalogue of horrors was the result. "Most exhaustive contemporary indictment of God-fearing Puritans driven by insensate religious fervor to sickening brutalities against other religious fanatics who dared to differ from themselves. Witch-hunting was bad; this was worse" – Howes. SABIN 5631. CHURCH 571, 598 (refs). EUROPEAN AMERICANA 703/16. HOWES B481, "aa." $1500. 12. [Bollan, William]: THE IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGE OF CAPE BRETON, TRULY STATED, AND IMPARTIALLY CONSIDERED. WITH PROPER MAPS. London. 1746. vi,[2],156pp. Antique three-quarter calf and marbled boards, leather label. Some light tanning and foxing. Very good. Lacks the two folding maps. "Bollan wrote this when in England in 1746 as agent for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in representing the claim of that colony for repayment of over £180,000 spent on the Louisbourg expedition of the year before. He refers to Pepperell’s An Accurate Journal of the Proceedings of the New-England Landforces, Exeter, 1746, as a reason for not making an extended account of the campaign, but does devote several pages to the daring of William Vaughan, ‘the Original Mover and Projector of this grand and successful enterprise.’ In due course Bollan collected £200,000 in silver for the colony" – Streeter. This copy lacks the maps, as usual. HOWES B578, "b." STREETER SALE 1001. HANSON 5986. LANDE 46. SABIN 6215. TPL 201. BELL B287. $1250. 13. [Bollan, William]: COLONIE ANGLICANE ILLUSTRATE: OR THE ACQUEST OF THE DOMINION, AND THE PLANTATION OF THE COLONIES MADE BY THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, WITH THE RIGHTS OF THE COLONISTS, EXAMINED, STATED, AND ILLUSTRATED. London. 1762. [2],viii, 141,[1]pp. including advertising and errata leaves. Quarto. Contemporary calf, ruled in gilt, expertly rebacked, spine gilt, morocco label, gilt inner dentelles. Calf a bit scuffed at extremities, slightly worn at corners. Internally clean. Very good. William Bollan (1710?-82) was the colonial agent from Massachusetts in England from 1745 to 1762. He was renowned for his skill in lobbying for the colony, being particularly adept at securing for Massachusetts wartime reimbursement, and he repeatedly offered policy advice to the agents of the Prime Minister and the King. In 1757, when Thomas Pownall replaced William Shirley, Bollan’s father-in-law, as governor of Massachusetts, Bollan’s political career was threatened. Boston lawyer and early revolutionary James Otis sided with Pownall to secure Bollan’s removal, but Lieut. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson stood steadfastly behind Bollan, beginning a long feud between Otis and Hutchinson. This feud would have severe implications in the growing revolution, as the disdain Otis and Hutchinson shared for each other would often play out in politicized discourse. The several colonial administrations under which Bollan served consistently failed to reimburse him for what he thought he was worth, so eventually he abandoned the role of colonial agent and picked up as a patriotic writer, the present volume being an early example of his work. He was later hired as agent for Massachusetts again, this time for the liberty-minded colonists, but he failed to reach an eleventh-hour compromise to avoid the war. He died before the war’s completion. "The first part of an intended larger work relates early geographical knowledge to Portuguese exploration down the west coast of Africa in the fifteenth century. The proposed work was intended as a justification of colonial rights" – Bell. "A very learned work, but of which, unfortunately, no more was published" – Sabin. HOWES B142, "b." SABIN 6209. BELL B348. ANB, pp.130-31. $1500. In a Presentation Binding 14. [Book of Common Prayer]: THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH, ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. TOGETHER WITH THE PSALMS OF DAVID, POINTED AS THEY ARE TO BE SUNG OR SAID IN CHURCHES; AND THE FORM OR MANNER OF MAKING, ORDAINING, AND CONSECRATING OF BISHOPS, PRIESTS, AND DEACONS. Oxford: Printed by T. Wright and W. Gill, Printers to the University, 1769. [206] leaves (printed in double columns) plus fifty-nine full-page engraved plates. Tall quarto. Contemporary black morocco (almost imperceptibly rebacked with original backstrip laid down); front and rear covers extensively decorated in gilt, 1 5/8-inch wide dentelle-style border of alternating large and thin vases holding flowers, within which is an elaborate central diamond-shape design composed of floral and rococo tools with two pairs of backward-looking tufted birds on branches, surrounded by floral and star-like tools; a.e.g. On the front cover, the center of the diamond-shape design is lettered "The Honorable Samuel Rous Esq. Barbados," surrounded by a stylized fern border. On the rear cover, the center of the diamond-shape design is lettered "One Thousand Seven Hundred & Seventy Two," also surrounded by a stylized fern border. Spine in six compartments with raised bands, extensively decorated in gilt with flowers, stars, circles, and different birds than on the covers. Inner dentelles gilt with "Greek key" roll, contemporary marbled pastedowns and free endpapers. Two corners rubbed and two corners almost imperceptibly repaired, otherwise in fine condition. Extra-illustrated with fifty-nine full-page engraved plates. A few minor dampstains on a few leaves at front and rear and occasional minor foxing, absolutely not affecting text or images. [bound with:] Brady, N., and N. Tate: A NEW VERSION OF THE PSALMS OF DAVID, FITTED TO THE TUNES USED IN CHURCHES. London: H. Woodfall, 1768. [26] leaves (printed in triple columns). A fine copy. A magnificently bound and extravagantly extra-illustrated copy of The Book of Common Prayer, prepared for presentation to, or perhaps commissioned by, Samuel Rous, President of His Majesty’s Council and Commander-in-Chief (i.e. governor) of Barbados, from 1766 to 1768. He also served again in 1772, the year indicated on the rear cover. The Rous family, Quakers residing in Barbados, were leading planters on the island since the late 1630s. The fifty-nine plates bound in this volume to complement the text were originally executed for The Liturgy of the Church of England; Illustrated with Fifty Nine Historical and Explanatory Sculptures, Engraved by Mess. Ravenett, Grignion, Scotin, Canott, Walker, and W. Ryland, printed in London in 1755 by Edward Ryland. According to the titlepage, included here as one of the extra-illustrated plates, this work was published according to an act of Parliament on May 1, 1755. However, no copies of this 1755 title are recorded on OCLC, RLIN, or in ESTC. In addition to The Book of Common Prayer and the engravings from The Liturgy of the Church of England, this copy also contains a 1768 edition of A New Version of the Psalms of David, first printed in 1698. Considering the recipient and the combined contents of the volume, these two texts and the extensive suite of engravings are bound in an appropriately sumptuous binding. Prepared for Samuel Rous, who served as governor of Barbados, the binding is a marvelous example of later 18th-century British bookbinding, with extensive gilt decoration on the covers and spine as described above. A fine copy of an elaborately decorated and illustrated volume, with a remarkable colonial-era provenance. GRIFFITHS, BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 1769.5. $4500. Political Electricity 15. [British Politics and Colonies]: POLITICAL ELECTRICITY, OR, AN HISTORICAL & PROPHETICAL PRINT IN THE YEAR 1770 [caption title]. [London]: Published according to Act of Parliament, [1770]. Copperplate engraving, 28 x 16¾ inches, on two joined sheets. A few old folds. Slight scuff in the bottom edge, obscuring a few words in the key, else fine. A remarkable and rare British print, commenting on the tenuous state of British domestic and colonial politics on the eve of the American Revolution. In this elaborate, thirty-one-panel image electricity is used as a metaphor for political power, and a spark of political power, with disastrous results. Ironically, American patriots including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson also used the metaphor of electricity when describing how the spark of Revolutionary fervor passed through colonies. The print presents a powerful array of images of British society and politics in decline, with commentaries on the growing national debt, the high prices for food staples, the low wages paid to workers, the persecution of John Wilkes, the ruinous policies of the Chatham government, and the corruption of King George III and the royal household. London itself is shown in other panels in flames, animals grazing on the banks of the Thames, the Royal Exchange has been turned into a wilderness, and trading vessels with masts made of broomsticks. In one of the most striking panels the British lion is shown laid out on a table about to be consumed by political ministers led by the Earl of Bute, who already has the animal’s genitals on his plate. Attacks on the Earl of Bute, a favorite of King George III and an architect of the Tory resurgence, pop up repeatedly in the print, and the entire scene is connected by an electrified chain, which draws its power from an anthropomorphized turbine on the coast of France – which is also identified as the Earl of Bute. The electrical surge moves invisibly through the chain, connecting the corrupt Tory leaders to the King, and powering events. Images of America appear in two key places in the print. The man most associated with electricity, Benjamin Franklin, is pictured in the upper right corner of the print (off the coast of France), flying a kite festooned with petitions. The city of Boston is also featured in the print (its skyline closely resembling that of London), with industrious colonists as work in the foreground. The text key that relates to this panel criticizes the British government for imposing the Stamp Act and other internal taxes "contrary to ye true spirit of British policy," and states that Boston will take the place of London as a virtuous city. "The design [of the print] is political satire as complex colloquial art, a densely allusive lattice-work of the misfortunes of the imperial British polity on the eve of the American Revolution...In this broadsheet, politics are electric and electricity political...Recent political history converges with prophecy through a narrative chain (the electrical chain) of violent self-destruction: the suppression of British liberties, the rise of corruption and militarism, the wrecking of trade and commerce, the disintegration of the British state, and the rise of America" – Delbourgo. This is one of two states of this print, with this one signed "Mercurius & Apelles fect." The other state of the print is signed "Veridicus & Junius fect." The attributed creator of this print, Richard Whitworth, who signed himself "Veridicus" ("speaker of truth"), was an opposition member of Parliament from Stafford, and an ardent supporter of political and economic change in Britain. The print is also mockingly captioned "Bute & Wilkes invent.," a jab at the Earl of Bute, in contrast to John Wilkes, the ardent Parliamentary critic. The imprint line reading that this print was "published according to Act of Parliament" is also done in jest. OCLC locates only two copies, at the Library of Congress and the Society of the Cincinnati Library. We locate another copy in the British Museum catalogue. Rare, and an incredibly striking image of a corrupt England and a virtuous America. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN DRAWINGS AND PRINTS 656. STEPHENS, CATALOGUE OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM IV:4422, pp.649-60. STEVENS, HISTORICAL NUGGETS, p.600. OCLC 51137874. James Delbourgo, "Political Electricity: The Occult Mechanism of Revolution" in Common-place (Vol. 5, no. 1, October 2004) (http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/cp/vol-05/no-01/lessons/). $9500. Settle in Virginia and Maryland 16. Bullock, William: VIRGINIA IMPARTIALLY EXAMINED, AND LEFT TO PUBLICK VIEW, TO BE CONSIDERED BY ALL JUDICIOUS AND HONEST MEN. UNDER WHICH TITLE, IS COMPREHENDED THE DEGREES FROM 34 TO 39, WHEREIN LYES THE RICH AND HEALTHFULL COUNTRIES OF ROANOCK, THE NOW PLANTATIONS OF VIRGINIA AND MARY-LAND. London: John Hammond, 1649. [12],66pp. Small quarto. Modern calf, boards elaborately tooled, spine gilt. Neat, early ink note in the margin of p.47. Titlepage remargined and repaired at extremities, not affecting the text. Final text leaf repaired, mending a closed tear on the verso and repairing the lower outer corner, in neither case affecting the text. A very good copy. In a cloth clamshell box, gilt leather label. The Samuel Latham Mitchell Barlow copy, with his bookplate on the front pastedown. This copy brought $72.50 at the Barlow sale in 1890. The book is dedicated to Lord Baltimore and the Earl of Arundell. The present work is unsurpassed by any of its contemporaries in regards to providing detailed information to prospective immigrants regarding the state of the Virginia and Maryland colonies. Included herein are descriptions of fruits, the land, climate, game, and a summation of pertinent laws, including the powers of the governor and general assembly. It is possibly the best work on Virginia available to potential colonists in the mid-17th century. Bullock notes that he wrote this work in only six days, and that he himself had not yet visited America. But he gleaned a wealth of information on the colony from conversations he conducted in London with planters, sea captains, and from his own father’s experiences of twelve years’ residence in Virginia, during which he amassed an estate of some five thousand acres. "The tract was issued as a prospective settler’s guide, not only to Virginia but to all territories lying between the 34th and 39th parallels" – Baer. Two impulses probably sparked Bullock to write this tract when he did. The first was the increased emigration from England of Royalists after the execution of Charles I, many of whom looked to Virginia or Maryland as a new home. At the same time, the colony of North Carolina began to expand in size. Secondly, the foundation era of colonization had ended, and a new era of more settled expansion was beginning in mid-century. Bullock addressed both these audiences. The work is not simply an encouragement to settle in the Chesapeake region, however. Scholars have noted that Bullock’s work is also an attempt to convince planters to diversify their crops, arguing that an over-reliance on tobacco, for example, would be economically debilitating. He urges planters and investors to pursue silk, indigo, and iron production, and to build sawmills, thus making his work one of the earliest on the political economy of the American colonies. Bullock "offers a structural analysis of the ‘state of Virginia’ at mid-century in which a polemical treatment of the colony’s development is balanced by an optimistic description of its potential" (Thompson). Little biographical detail is known regarding William Bullock (ca. 1617-50), but it appears that he did indeed lead a group of prospective settlers to Virginia in 1649/50, after the publication of Virginia Impartially Examined, and that he died in the colony, being buried on Mulberry Island (see Thompson). "Abounds with details of the colony of the highest value and interest" – Church. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 649/35. SABIN 9145. VAIL 113. BAER MARYLAND 29. CHURCH 490. JCB (3)II:383. ARENTS 235. WING B5438. BARLOW SALE 376 (this copy). Peter Thompson, "William Bullock’s ‘Strange Adventure’: A Plan to Transform Seventeenth-Century Virginia" in William & Mary Quarterly, January 2004, pp.107-28. $50,000. 17. [Burke, Edmund, et al (attrib)]: AN ACCOUNT OF THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA. IN SIX PARTS...The Second Edition, with improvements. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, 1758. Two volumes. [8],324,[10]; [12],308pp. Folding frontispiece map in each volume; folding map of Guadeloupe in second volume. Antique-style speckled calf, gilt-stamped spines. Titlepage of first volume a bit stained, else internally quite clean. A handsome set. Second edition, following the first of the previous year, with corrections and the addition of summaries at the start of each chapter. The authorship of this work, at least in terms of primary credit, still remains open, with William Burke (Edmund’s cousin) and Richard Burke (his brother) frequently being given credit as collaborators. Burke himself told Boswell that he only "revised" it. Whoever the ultimate responsible party, the work was nonetheless extremely popular, frequently reprinted and translated. The first volume deals largely with Hispanic America, relating to Mexico, New Mexico, and the English claims to California, Peru, Chile, and Brazil. The second volume describes European colonies in the West Indies. The two frontispiece maps are general maps of North and South America. HOWES B974. CLARK I:208. TODD 4b. SABIN 9282. PALAU 37503 (for the first ed). HILL 218 (note). $1100. First of the Andros Tracts 18. Byfield, Nathaniel: AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATE REVOLUTION IN NEW-ENGLAND. TOGETHER WITH THE DECLARATION OF THE GENTLEMEN, MERCHANTS, AND INHABITANTS OF BOSTON, AND THE COUNTRY ADJACENT. APRIL 18. 1689. London. 1689. 20pp. Small quarto. Modern crimson crushed levant, stamped in gilt, by Riviere & Son, gilt inner dentelles, a.e.g. Some wear to outer hinges, bookplate neatly removed, titlepage dust soiled. Very good. In a half morocco and cloth box. A most important work for the history of New England. Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of Massachusetts appointed by Charles II, was overthrown in the spring of 1689 because of his harsh and overbearing rule. This pamphlet explains the position of those who removed him from power and their protestations of loyalty to the British Crown. Following Byfield’s text is a printing of Increase Mather’s The Declaration of the Gentlemen..., on pages 7-19. Page 20 prints a letter to Sir Edmund Andros, royal governor of the Dominion of New England, written and signed in type by prominent Boston citizens on April 18, 1689, demanding the surrender of the government. CHURCH 708. SABIN 9708. $8500. 19. Callender, John: AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE ON THE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS OF THE COLONY OF RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS IN NEW-ENGLAND IN AMERICA. FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 1638, TO THE END OF FIRST CENTURY. Boston: Printed and sold by S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1739. [2],14,120pp. plus a one-page "Advertisement" listing errata. Modern morocco over linen boards, spine gilt. Contemporary ownership inscription on titlepage. Light foxing and moderate age-toning in some gatherings. Foredge of Leaf L3 torn, with no loss of text. A very good copy. An important colonial history containing a good deal of information concerning Roger Williams, religious freedom, Indians and Indian wars, etc., by the pastor of the Baptist church in Newport, Rhode Island, the second Baptist church in the United States. A rather learned work, drawing upon much original research, as well as critical readings and assessments of the histories of William Hubbard and Cotton Mather. An excellent Rhode Island item. SABIN 10075. EVANS 4347. STREETER SALE 677. HOWES C74, "aa." $1750. French and Indian War Commander 20. [Campbell, John, Fourth Earl of Loudon]: THE CONDUCT OF A NOBLE COMMANDER IN AMERICA, IMPARTIALLY REVIEWED, WITH THE GENUINE CAUSES OF THE DISCONTENTS AT NEW-YORK AND HALLIFAX. AND THE TRUE OCCCASION [sic] OF THE DELAYS IN THAT IMPORTANT EXPEDITION.... London. 1758. 45pp. Modern boards, leather label. Titlepage dust soiled, else very good. In 1756, John Campbell, fourth Earl of Loudon, was appointed captain-general and governor-in-chief of the province of Virginia, and soon after commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. He was recalled to England early in 1757 due to his inaction at Halifax, and was succeeded by Gen. Amherst. This pamphlet is an attempt to vindicate his conduct, both at New York and in Canada, as a British commander in America during the French and Indian War. HOWES C666, "aa." SABIN 15197. TPL 263. LANDE 546. $2250. Extensive Run of a Rare Early 21. [Canada]: [RUN OF EIGHTY-FOUR ISSUES OF THE Quebec Gazette PLUS THIRTEEN SUPPLEMENTS]. Quebec: Printed by Brown & Gilmore, May 29, 1766 – Dec. 24, 1767. Eighty-four issues, [4]pp. each, comprised of numbers 73-156 plus [2]pp. supplements for numbers 80, 81, 82, 87, 91, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 132, 142, and 143, printed in double-column format in English and French. Folio. Dbd. First issue in the set (No. 73) with mutilated caption title, closed scissor tear, obliterated ink stamp, with partial loss of caption title. Issue No. 156 with one advertisement neatly excised from final leaf. Uniform tanning. Remaining issues all very good. In a cloth case, leather label. A remarkable run of this very early Canadian publication, comprising a wonderful digest of events in British colonial America, and a gauge of commercial and social events during the early years of British controlled Quebec. The Quebec Gazette was established in June 1764 as a bilingual weekly newspaper, for the dissemination of "foreign affairs, political transactions...of the several powers of Europe, occurrences of the Mother Country, also events, debates, etc., of amusement and interest to people...[and] Material occurrences of the American Colonies and West-Indian Islands...." The extensive run offered here, comprised of eighty-four numbers and thirteen supplements, begins with number 73, in which the original publishers, Brown and Gilmore, resumed publication of the Quebec Gazette after a hiatus of some years. In that issue (May 29, 1766) the publishers reiterate their editorial policy: "that ever since the Establishment of Civil Government [Aug. 10, 1764], our Paper has been, and ever shall be, as free of Inspection or Restrictions of any Person whatsoever, as it is of the late Stamp...We profess’d at our first setting out, our avow’d Resolution against making our Publication the Conveyance of private Scandal, or the Tool and Stimulator to Political Faction...It is a Happiness peculiar to the Subjects of the British Empire only, to have the Liberty of thinking for themselves on all Subjects, to speak what they think, and to publish such thoughts as may seem innoxious to Individuals, and undisturbing to the Publick." In later years, however, during the American Revolution, the Quebec Gazette showed its Loyalist colors by becoming a sort of quasi-government publication, printing official proclamations and the like. The thirteen supplements contained in this offering served as a means to disseminate official proclamations governing the province of Quebec. A long run of this most important early Canadian newspaper, and a gold mine of events in British colonial America. TREMAINE, pp.629-39. $18,500. Early Account of Champlain 22. [Cayet, Pierre Victor-Palme]: CHRONOLOGIE SEPTENAIRE DE L’HISTOIRE DE LA PAIX ENTRE LES ROYS DE FRANCE ET D’ESPAGNE...AUEC LES SUCCEZ DE PLUSIEURS NAUIGATIONS FAICTES AUX INDES ORIENTALES, OCCIDENTALES & SEPTENTRIONALES.... Paris. 1607. Engraved title, regular title, [6]pp., 506 leaves. Thick 12mo. Later speckled boards, leather label, spine gilt. Extremities rubbed. Contents tanned, foredge trimmed affecting some sidenotes but no main text. Else very good. A rare and important volume, containing one of the first accounts of Champlain’s first voyage to North America. The work includes a detailed account of the 1603 expedition to Canada organized by Amyar de Chastres, governor of Dieppe, and commanded by Sieur Du Pont. Champlain went along on this expedition. The book as a whole reports on the events of 1598 to 1604, including considerable material on Jesuit activity in the New World and China, as well as Canada. The first edition of this book was issued in 1605, with subsequent editions published in 1606, 1607, and 1609. Some of these were issued with an engraved title, as was the present copy, although this is not mentioned by Sabin or Alden. All editions are rare. SABIN 11627 (ref). LANDE 113 (ref). HARRISSE NOUVELLE FRANCE, p.284. PALAU 50667. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 607/13. $4000. The Final, and Rarest, Edition of Champlain, 23. Champlain, Samuel de: LES VOYAGES DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE OCCIDENTALE, DICTE CANADA, FAITS PAR LE SR. DE CHAMPLAIN.... Paris: Chez Claude Collet au mont sainct Hilaire, pres le Puits Certain, 1640. 16pp. introduction, 308,310,[blank leaf], [8],54pp. With the large folding map, and additionally the Duval map, bound into this copy (see below). Contemporary vellum. A very fine copy in original condition. The final, and perhaps the rarest, edition of Champlain’s works, the most important texts relating to the discovery and early exploration of New France. The text of the work is the same as that of the 1632 collected edition, except for the new titlepage, completely reset, and with a differing date and imprint for the printer. This copy is also notable for containing not only the 1632 Champlain map, which should normally accompany it, but also having a version of the 1616 Champlain map, the great explorer’s other major cartographic achievement. Textually, this is the most important edition of Champlain. According to Church, "Of all the editions of Champlain, this is the only complete one...." The first part contains abridged accounts of the first six voyages of Champlain, through 1613 (those covered in the volume published that year), and a full account of the seventh voyage of 1615-17, with a brief note about the eighth. The second part contains a full account of the ninth voyage and a history of Canada for the period, 1620-31. The latter material appears herein for the first time, and the treatise on navigation makes its first appearance here. Champlain stands alone as a full, accurate, detailed account of New France in the first three decades of the 17th century, and as a historical and ethnological source is unrivalled. This excellence extends to the illustrations. The six engravings which appear in this edition, identical to those which illustrated the 1619 Champlain, are some of the most accurate illustrations of Indians to appear before the 19th century. The map accompanying the volume can be considered the summation of all of Champlain’s explorations from a cartographic point of view. It can be considered to be the first to show the entire Great Lakes network, and extends further, both west and south, than his earlier efforts. It is by far the most important and comprehensive map of Canada up to that point, and the basis for many later maps. This copy also contains a copy of the so-called "Duval" map, Le Canada faict par le Sr. Champlain.... This is actually printed from the same plate as Champlain’s 1616 map and essentially is that map with later additions and alterations. This map was created by map-maker Pierre Duval, who evidently came into the possession of the copper printing plate for Champlain’s 1616 map, his last before the map that normally accompanies the 1632 and 1640 editions of Les voyages. Duval then made numerous alterations to the plate, adding much more nomenclature and a new title cartouche. Subsequently, more alterations were made to the plate, so that Burden notes six states in all. This is the fifth state, issued about 1670, with the addition of an otherwise unknown Arctic route of 1665, and Boston identified. A superb copy of one of the great Champlain rarities, with both the regular 1632 map and the Duval version of the 1616 Champlain map. CHURCH 446. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 640/62. SABIN 11840. HARRISSE, NOUVELLE FRANCE 72. JCB (3)II:280. BURDEN 237, 309. $450,000. The Rare Dublin Edition, 24. Charlevoix, François-Xavier: A VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA, UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE PRESENT KING OF FRANCE. CONTAINING THE GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION AND NATURAL HISTORY OF CANADA AND LOUISIANA.... Dublin. 1766. Two volumes. [10],48,228; [22], 335pp. plus eight folding maps and two plates. Modern polished calf, ruled in gilt, spines gilt extra, gilt inner dentelles, a.e.g. Expertly rehinged. Two maps neatly backed with linen. A handsome, near fine set. Charlevoix travelled in the Great Lakes region and down the Mississippi in 1720-22, to inspect interior posts and settlements and to gather more information about the westward regions. He had intended to return upriver, but he fell ill at Biloxi and returned to France in 1723. Originally published in 1744 as part of Charlevoix’s larger work on New France, this journal was published separately in English, in London in 1766. The Dublin edition, which is much rarer, is considered the best by Howes and others because of the accompanying maps and the two striking Indian portraits which appear as frontispieces, "A Delaware Indian with his tomahawk, scalping knife, &c." and "Outacite Chief of the Cherokees." The text contains a short appendix relating to the West Indies, with excellent maps of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the Caribbean. HOWES C308, "b." CLARK I:60. FIELD 283. SABIN 12139. GRAFF 651. TPL 191. GREENLY, MICHIGAN 12. $6000. 25. [Choiseul, E.F. (comp)]: AN HISTORICAL MEMORIAL OF THE NEGOTIATION OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND, FROM THE 26th OF MARCH, 1761, TO THE 20th OF SEPTEMBER OF THE SAME YEAR, WITH THE VOUCHERS.... London. 1761. 63, [1]pp. Quarto. Three-quarter antique speckled calf and marbled boards, spine gilt, leather label. Near fine. First English language edition of this important collection of state papers relative to the establishment of the Treaty of Paris which ended the French and Indian War, the cession of Canada, the limits of Louisiana, the fisheries off Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Guadeloupe, etc. This work was issued at the order of the French government in an attempt to lay fault at the feet of the British for the termination of peace negotiations, and it was quickly translated from the original French and printed in the present London edition the same year. A document of great importance, with a key place in the beginning of the negotiations which would result in securing for the British much of North America. HOWES M507. SABIN 4751. LANDE 132. TPL 339. GAGNON I:1686. $3000. 26. Choiseul, Etienne-François: MÉMOIRES DE M. LE DUC DE CHOISEUL, ANCIEN MINISTRE DE LA MARINE, DE LA GUERRE, & DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES.... Paris: Chez Buisson, 1790. Two volumes. 254; 251pp. Original wrappers, paper labels. Stain near foredge of pp.241-254 of first volume. Otherwise remarkably clean and tight. In a board box. The first publicly available and comprehensive edition, after the privately printed components of 1778. Issued in the same year as the quarto edition. Choiseul was a noted French statesman, having entered diplomatic service after a distinguished military career. As ambassador to Vienna in 1757, he strengthened the Austrian alliance by conducting the first negotiations toward the marriage of Marie Antoinette to the future Louis XVI. As minister of foreign affairs (1758-70), he negotiated the several alliances between France and Spain, known as the Family Compact. Most notably, he played a chief role in negotiating the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years’ War. Additionally, he restructured the army and navy, supported the publication of Diderot’s Encyclopédie, and assisted in the suppression of the Jesuits. His anti-Jesuit actions caused him to fall out of favor with the powerful Mme. du Barry, Louis XV’s mistress, and he was exiled from court in 1770. BRUNET 1847. GRAESSE 135. QUÉRARD, p.193. $1250. 27. Cicero, Marcus Tullius: CATO MAJOR, OR, A TREATISE ON OLD AGE, BY M. TULLIUS CICERO. WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES FROM THE ROMAN HISTORY. BY MR. LOGGAN. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, THE LIFE OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. London: Printed for S. Austen, in Newgate-Street, 1750. xx,[4], 170,[2]pp. 18th-century gilt calf, spine gilt, raised bands, morocco label. Hinges repaired, calf rubbed. Bookplates on front pastedown and front free endpaper, including that of Frank C. Deering. Very good. In a brown cloth Sangorski and Sutcliffe solander case, morocco label. The first London printing of this edition, originally published by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1744, and one of his most noteworthy productions. Translated by Chief Justice James Logan. $1000. 28. Clough, Samuel: CLOUGH, 1706. KALENDARIUM NOV-ANGLICANUM, OR AN ALMANACK FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1706. AND FROM THE CREATION 5655. BEING SECOND AFTER LEAP YEAR. WHEREIN ARE CONTAINED ALL THINGS NECESSARY FOR SUCH A WORK... DILIGENTLY CALCULATED & REDUCED TO THE MERIDIAN OF BOSTON IN N.E. LAT. 42 GR. 25 MIN LONG. 315. Boston: Printed by Bartho. Green, for Benj. Eliot, and Nich. Boone, 1706 [i.e. 1705]. [32]pp. including booksellers’ advertisements on final six pages. Dbd. Moderately age-toned. Edges worn with slight tears and chips. Some leaves torn with slight loss of text, some leaves repaired with modern tissue. A good copy. A scarce early 18th-century New England almanac by Samuel Clough, who issued a series of annual almanacs published in Boston between 1700 and 1708. In addition to the calendar for the year 1706, this Kalendarium Nov-Anglicanum includes "an account of the Jewish coins, weights and measures mentioned in the Scripture; carefully collected from a learned and judicious author, and reduced to our English standards, which...may be of great use for the better understanding many places in the Bible." These explanations are accompanied by a series of tables for shekels, silver and gold talents, and cubits converted into English standards and measures. The work concludes with six pages of advertisements for Boston booksellers Benjamin Eliot and Nicholas Boone. DRAKE 2922. EVANS 1203. OCLC 7751712. $2250. |
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