History of the Province
Item #43894
SMITH, William. The History of the Province of New-York, from the First Discovery to the Year M.DCC.XXXII. To Which is Annexed, a Description ofthe 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. London: Printed for Thomas Wilcox, 1757. xii, 255pp. Large folding frontis. Quarto. Later crushed red morocco by Riviere & Son, unobtrusively rebacked with original backstrip laid down, gilt inner dentelles, a.e.g. A very good copy. Howes S-703. Sabin 84566. Streeter Sale 871. Church 1023. Contemporary ownership signature of Henry Atkinson, identified on front free endpaper as an officer in the War of 1812, at head of titlepage. This is the first history of New York, based largely on the works of Charlevoix and Colden's HISTORY OF THE FIVE NATIONS.... Smith was a graduate of Yale who became a distinguished New York lawyer and eventually justice of the province. A Loyalist during the Revolution, he moved to Canada at the war's conclusion and there became a chief justice. This history covers the period up to 1736. Smith wrote a continuation which remained in manuscript form until it was published by the New York HIstorical Society in 1826. The plate is entitled "The South View of Oswego on Lake Ontario" and shows the buildings and forts along the Onondaga River where it joins Lake Ontario. A prime New York item.
Price: $4,500.00