SMITH (William).

The History of the Province of New-York from the first discovery to the year MCCCXXXII.  To which is annexed, a description of the country, with a short account of the inhabitants, their trade, religious and political state, and the constitution of the co

First edition. Folding frontispiece a view of Oswego, with 160 by 30mm section of loss expertly restored and supplied in manuscript, minor further restoration to edges. 4to. Contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label with gilt titles to spine, gilt shelf-markings to head and tail of spine. Upper hinge restored. Bookmark to front pastedown of Scott of Balcomie. xii, 255pp. London, Wilcox, 1757.

£3,000.00

Colonel Scott of Balcomie’s copy, with his bookplate. A notorious gambler who won a fortune said to have been half a million pounds at the tables. An M.P. for a Scottish seat who, in 1769, visited America. On his death Selwyn wrote: “The waiters are to have crepes round their arms and the dice to be black and the spots white, during the time of wearing weepers, and the dice box muffled.

“Within the period subsequent to the English Revolution, Smith is still without a successful rival. This work ranks with Smith’s Virginia and Hutchinson’s Massachusetts as one of the worthiest examples of historical literature produced in later colonial times” (Larnard).

Smith, a distinguished lawyer and Chief Justice of New York, supported the Loyalist cause during the American Revolution and was forced to move to Canada at its conclusion, taking up the same post there. His history of the colony as published here only ran to 1736, however he anticipated some of the events of the 1754-1760 war, some of which were taking place as he wrote. Smith’s work is of additional interest for the material included on the Indian Nations. The plate bound as a frontispiece is an engraved view of Oswego on Lake Ontario. Sabin, 84566; Church, 1023; Howes, S703, “b”; Larnard, 1109.

Stock No.
190805