[Rarebooks] fa: DONALD FRASER - HISTORY OF MAN - NY: 1806 - Subscribers include THOMAS JEFFERSON , JOHN JAY etc.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with several other examples of 18th & 19th-century  
philosophy and political economy, auctions ending Sunday, Feb. 28.  
Details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under  
the seller name arch_in_la.

http://shop.ebay.com/arch_in_la/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340
OR
http://tinyurl.com/yhk74ma

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A., CA USA

D[onald] Fraser: The History of Man, or, A view of the virtues and  
vices of human nature in both sexes, with examples ancient & modern :  
Together with some original essays on a variety of subjects, tending  
to promote the principles of virtue, prudence and politeness : The  
whole work being interspersed with useful and entertaining  
narratives... First American, from the Third European Edition. New  
York: Printed by Southwick & Hardcastle, No. 2 Wall-Street, for the  
Editor, 1806. Hardcover 8vo (22 cm) in full period tree calf with gilt- 
stamped spine and morocco spine label; 434 + [16] pp; subscribers list  
bound in at rear.
An exhaustive and eccentric compendium of "historical facts and moral  
reflections" illustrating "the most amiable and laudable virtues" as  
well as "the most shocking vices which have in all ages disgraced our  
species," all gathered together in an effort "to delight the  
imagination, to improve the understanding and to mend the heart." The  
16-page list of subscribers is bedecked with some of the most  
prominent names in early American and New York history, including:  
Thomas Jefferson, President of the U. States, John Jay; Robert  
Livingston; Rufus King; George Clinton and DeWitt Clinton; John D.  
Dickinson [Federalist congressman] of Lansingburgh; Leonard  
Gansevoort; Rev. Benjamin Moore; as well as assorted Rensselaers,  
Rhinelanders, Van Vechtens, etc., etc.

Donald Fraser seems to have been a prolific Scottish-American hack  
writer of the period who produced a number of similarly wide-ranging  
works, such as A Compendium of the History of All Nations, The  
American Magazine of Wonders, and Marvelous Chronicle and The Young  
Gentleman's and Lady's Assistant. He also forged a pamphlet purported  
to be by Thomas Paine, The Recantation; Being an Anticipated  
Valedictory Address, of Thomas Paine, to the French Directory (1797).  
"On his arrival in New York, Paine found it necessary to call Fraser  
to account. The Scotchman pleaded that he had vainly tried to earn a  
living as fencing-master, preacher, and school-teacher, but had got  
eighty dollars for writing the 'Recantation.' Paine said: 'I am glad  
you found the expedient a successful shift for your needy family; but  
write no more concerning Thomas Paine. I am satisfied with your  
acknowledgment -- try something more worthy of a man'" (Moncure D.  
Conway, The Life of Thomas Paine).

Extremities bumped and worn, front hinge cracked but board is secure;  
age-toning and intermittent mild foxing of the text as is typical of  
early American imprints (most noticeable on the list of subrscribers);  
otherwise sound. Despite the statement on the title-page, we can find  
no evidence of any earlier "European Editions" of Fraser's book, so we  
suspect the claim was simply a marketing ploy by the canny Scot,  
designed to give his work a spurious air of gravitas and popularity,  
and that this is in fact the first edition anywhere.