[Rarebooks] FS: Morse's THE HISTORY OF AMERICA, IN TWO BOOKS...1795, with both maps.

[Steve Hanly]

We are pleased to offer:

Morse, Jedidiah. THE HISTORY OF AMERICA, IN TWO BOOKS... EXTRACTED FROM 
THE AMERICAN EDITION OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA. THE SECOND EDITION. M.DCC.XCV. 
[1795.] Printed by Thomas Dobson, at the Stone House, South 
Second-Street. Philadelphia. viii, 356 pp. Well-worn calf binding with 
abrasions and bumped corners. Top 1/4" of spine eroded. About 2" of 
upper front joint is separated. Red leather spine label with gilt 
lettering is present but worn. Fairly uniform foxing/darkening 
throughout. Maps have some spotting, misfolding and fold separations 
(1/2" or less) but the image content is complete.

This is the second edition of The History of America; the first, also 
published by Dobson, appeared in 1790. The History, which Evans 
attributes to Morse, is an extraction from the Encyclopedia, or a 
Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Miscellaneous Literature, published by 
Dobson in parts during the 1790s. Both maps called for are present: 
SOUTH AMERICA FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES (7 x 8 1/4"; "Plate XV," 
presumably the plate number in the Encyclopedia) and A GENERAL MAP OF 
NORTH AMERICA FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES (7 x 8 1/2"; "Plate XIV"). The 
map of North America has some interesting boundary placements, toponymy 
and geographic notations. For instance, the boundaries of Virginia, the 
Carolinas and Georgia reach west to the Mississippi River. On the West 
Coast, the "Western Sea" floats indistinctly above the "River of the 
West." At mid-continent is the notation "Thus far the Mississippi has 
been ascended." The "Snowey Mountains" cut across New Albion from west 
to east, and "H[arbo]r. where Sr. Francis Drake was 5 weeks" (i.e., San 
Francisco) is indicated. Just below that harbor is "New Years Haven." 
Both maps are signed in type "Scot" at the lower right, indicating 
engraving by Robert Scot, who was associated with a handful of maps 
printed in Philadelphia in the 1790s. Ownership inscription: "Edward 
Turner's, March 24, 1798" on ffep. Penciled notes on front pastedown. 
Uncommon. Evans, American Bibliography: 29111. Sabin, A Dictionary of 
Books Relating to America: 50937. For the maps, Wheat & Brun, Maps and 
Charts Published in America before 1800: 701 & 51. [Item no. 3099.] 
$2,000.00.


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