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Catalogue
74
America
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66.
[HUSKE, JOHN]. The Present State of North America, &c.
Part I. (all published). London, R. and J. Dodsley, 1755. First
edition. $2,725
4to; 2 ff, pp. 88; later half-morocco; t.e.g., others uncut; tiny
hole on G[4], barely touching 2 letters; first and final leaves
dusty; a fine, uncut copy with very wide margins. Page 88 states
that "the rest of this Work will be published with all possible
Dispatch" but, in fact, nothing more was published.
Vide Howes H826 (incorrect imprint and pagination); TPL 6412. The
Table of Contents lists eight chapters but Part I contains chapters
1 to 3 only as part 2 was never published. While there is a map
that is sometimes found with this edition or with the second London
edition, this map was in fact issued after the publication of both
editions and is often found with the 1760 edition of Douglas' "Summary
of the British Settlements in North America" which was also
published by Dodsley. There is some discussion about whether the
work was written by Ellis Huske, who died in 1755, or by his eldest
son, John, (1721?-1773). A second edition "with Emendations"
was published in London and two editions were published in Boston,
all in the same year, but this first edition of Huske's angry denunciation
of French policy in America has become exceedingly scarce.
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67.
IMLAY, GEORGE, [i.e. GILBERT]. A Topographical Description
of the Western Territory of North America: Containing a Succinct
Account of Its Soil, Climate, Natural History, Population, Agriculture,
Manners, and Customs. With an Ample Description of the Several Divisions
Into Which that Country is partitioned; to Which are added, The
Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucky, and An Essay
towards the Topography, and Natural History of that important Country,
by John Filson. To Which is Added, I. The Adventures of Col. Daniel
Boon [sic], one of the First Settlers, comprehending every important
Occurrence in the Political History of that Province, II. The Minutes
of the Piankashaw Council, held at Post St. Vincent's, April 15,
1784. III. An Account of the Indian Nations inhabiting within the
Limits of the Thirteen United States; their Manners and Customs;
and Reflections on their Origin. Illustrated with correct Maps of
the Western Territory of North America; of the State of Kentucky,
as divided into Counties, from the latest Surveys; and a Plan of
the Rapids of the Ohio. London, Printed for J. Debrett, MDCCXCIII
(1793). $4,000
8vo; 2ff, pp. xvi, 433, [1] (blank), [18] (Index & Errata),
[2] (Publ's. Cat.); 3 folding engraved maps and 1 folding table;
page 433 mispaginated 17; large map has old repairs on verso (no
loss); nineteenth-century half hard-grain morocco; marbled paper
over boards and marbled endpapers; t.e.g., others uncut; binding
rubbed at edges and joints; front free endpaper and first blank
little loose; spine sunned. A scarce work complete with half-title,
all maps, folding table, etc.
Howes I-12; Sabin 34356; Buck, Illinois, 43; Clark (Old South) II:41;
vide Graff 2091 (third ed.); Rader 2003; Vail (Frontier) 943; Streeter
Sale III:1523; F. Streeter Sale I:276. This is one of the most complete
descriptions of the western country published in the eighteenth
century, especially of the Ohio and Kentucky territories. This is
the second edition, revised and expanded over the first of 1792,
the latter having no maps. It is also the first to reprint Filson's
"Kentucke" of 1784, along with his map. Imlay (1754-1828)
was an officer in the Revolutionary War and, after the war, travelled
to Kentucky and became a land speculator. He was not the most honest
of men and, in order to avoid arrest for fraudulent land practices,
moved to England, where this work was first published. Filson (1753?-1788)
was a schoolteacher and surveyor in Pennsylvania until he moved
to Kentucky and settled in Lexington, where he wrote his excellent
work, here reprinted by Imlay (pp. [269]-415). Pages 417-[433] contain
the "Report of the Secretary of State, to the President of
the United States, of the Quantity and Situation of the Lands not
claimed by the Indians, nor granted to, nor claimed by any Citizens,
within the Territory of the United States. Read in the House of
Representatives, Nov. 10, 1791."
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By the Author of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
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68. [JEFFERSON, THOMAS]. Observations upon Certain Passages
in Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, which appear to have a tendency
to subvert religion, and establish A False Philosophy, by [Clement
C. Moore]. New York, 1804. $650
8vo; pp. 32; original blue-grey wrappers little chipped and worn;
text lightly toned; a very good, uncut and unopened copy of this
scarce ephemeral work.
BAL 14334; Sabin 50336; Shaw & Shoemaker 6812; Howes R417 [attrib.
to (Clement Moore?)]. This work is in fact known to have been written
by Moore during the presidential campaign of 1804. He bases his
comments in this pamphlet on the third American edition, printed
in New York in 1801, of Jefferson's Notes, and lambasts Jefferson
for his impiety and reliance upon the French philosophers and Encyclopédistes
whom Moore here refers to as "pygmy philosophers." Quite
a different work from his "Night Before Christmas."
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First English Edition of this Important Work
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69. JEFFERSON, THOMAS. Travels in the Interior Parts of America;
Communicating Discoveries Made in Exploring the Missouri, Red River
and Washita, by Captains Lewis and Clark, Doctor Sibley and Mr.
Dunbar… with a Statistical Account of the Countries Adjacent…
as Laid before the Senate… London, Printed for Richard Phillips
by J. G. Barnard, 1807. First English edition. $5,000
8vo; pp. 116. Complete with folding table; later half-calf with
marbled paper over boards; t.e.g.; binding little worn at edges;
neat bookplate; edges of free endpapers little chipped; overall,
a very good copy.
Howes L319; Sabin 40826; Wagner-Camp-Becker 5:6, Beckham, Erickson
2b.6: "The first overseas publication on Lewis and Clark, reprinted
from the 1806 Washington edition by A. & G. Way." "The
Sibley-Dunbar descriptions of the Texas-Louisiana frontier gave
the first formal and satisfactory picture of the southern portion
of the Louisiana Purchase." - (Howes).
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70. JOHNSTON, HENRY P[HELPS], 1842-1923. The Yorktown Campaign
and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781. New York, Harper & Brothers,
1881. $1,250
Tall 8vo; 2 ff, pp. 206, [4]; frontispiece and 26 illustrations
in the text, some full-page; 40 extra engraved plates of portraits
and scenes; burgundy half-morocco with marbled paper over boards;
spine gilt-tooled in compartments; t.e.g.; a fine copy.
Not in Howes, Sabin or Streeter; not located in the online catalogues
of Harvard or Yale (the latter has a reprint ed.). Johnston tried
his hand at a law career and at journalism before turning to his
favourite passion, historical studies. He produced a work of considerable
importance, The Campaign of 1776 around New York, in 1878 which,
in effect, began his career, and this success led to his engagement
as Professor of History at the College of the City of New York in
1883. This work on the Yorktown Campaign was one of several titles
published, all equally well-received, and testified to his interest
in and ability to write about military history.
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