[Rarebooks] FS: William Smith's History of the Province of New York, with Map (large, thick paper edition, 1757)

[Ezra Tishman]

Ezra from Aardvark offers this scarce large/thick paper edition of one of Smith’s New York, wh ich
scholars agree is among the finest colonial histories penned. See our today-only price below and
snap this up in a New York Minute. (Even though he’s from Pittsburgh, ask Ezra for definition)

																	$7500
																
Smith, William (Jr.). THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO
THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. 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 COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE/THICK PAPER EDITION).
London, England: Printed for Thomas Wilcox, Bookseller at Virgil's Head, opposite the New Church in the Strand, 1757. First
Edition. "A Few Copies of the 1757 Edition were printed on larger and thicker paper, with wide inner margins". (Sabin) This
is one of those very few copies.

4to. 10 3/8' x 8" 1/4" (26.35 cm. x 20.95 cm.) Beautifully rebound in full mottled calf by international award-winning
bookbinder Sean Richards of Byzantium Studios in Norman, Oklahoma.

Spine tooled with period gilt designs. Paper repairs to title page and folding plate. Five raised bands, divided by thick gilt chain
rules, and contrasting spine label of dark green, titled as well in bright gilt.
pp. xii, 255. Fold-out frontis map of "The South View of Oswego on Lake Ontario", which depicts "forts and buildings on both
sides of the Onondaga River, where it empties into Lake Ontario" supplied from small paper copy and tipped in.. Some light
toning to portions of text block; eminently readable. Pages are clean and in good order.
The first edition of the very first history of New York, and one of a very few copies on large and thick paper. Quite scarce in
this format:

Part I: The Discovery of the Colony to the Surrender in 1664; Part II: From the Surrender in 1664, to the Settlement at the
Revolution; Part III: From the Revolution to the Second Expedition against Canada; Part IV: From the Canada Expedition in
1709, to the Arrival of Governour Burnet; Part V: From the Year 1720, to the Commencement of the Administration of
Colonel Cosby.

Part II: At page 183, a new title page ("The History of New-York), and the book continues: Chapter I: A Geographical
Description of the Country (with sections on these counties: West-Chester, Dutchess, Albany, Ulster, Orange, Richond, King's,
Queen's, & Suffolk); Chapter II: Of the Inhabitants; Chapter III: Of our Trade; Chapter IV: Of our Religious State; Chapter V:
The Political State; Chapter VI: Of our Laws and Courts; (Justices Court, Sessions and Court of Common-Pleas, The Supreme
Court, The Court of Admiralty, The Prerogative Court, The Court of the Governour and Council; The Court of Chancery).
"The author states in his preface that the work is based chiefly on the Provincial Laws, the Minutes of the Council, the.
Journals of the General Assembly and other government records..." (Sabin)

Sabin writes that "The History" proper covers pp. 1-180, while a description of the province, geographical, political,
etc., forms pp. 181-255" (Sabin 84566).

"This work ranks with Stith's Virginia and Hutchinson's Massachusetts as one of the worthiest examples of historifcal literature
produced in later colonial times." (Larned 1109)

															(Note: $5500 Net Today (email stamped by 9 p.m. Pacific)

Smith was a graduate of Yale, a lawyer (admitted to the bar at age 22), later Chief Justice of the Province of New York, and
then in Canada. Although a declared loyalist to the crown, Smith had also been known by the ignoble moniker of "The
Weathercock" because one never knew on which side he stood. His brother was an unwitting co-conspirator who fell in with
Benedict Arnolds traitorous designs. There existed a deep vein of mistrust for the Smith brothers, and some write they both
narrowly escaped execution for suspicion of conspiracy. Smith writes in the preface that this work is based chiefly on the
Provincial Laws, the Minutes of the Council, the Journals of the General Assembly and other government records, and that he
acknowledges his indebtedness to Colden's "History of the Five Indian Nations," and to Charlevoix". Says Larned in The
Literature of American History: An example of assiduous scholarship, and truly one of the cornerstones of any serious
collection of American Colonial History.


PHOTOS:
https://www.ezrabook.com/pages/books/84704/william-smith/the-history-of-the-province-of-new-york-from-the-first-discovery-to-the-year-mdccxxxii-to-which-is