Present State of North-America.
Item #64412
[HUSKE, Ellis]. The Present State of North-America. I. The Discoveries, Rights and Possessions of Great-Britain. II. The Discoveries, Rights and Possessions of France. III. The Encroachments and Depredations of the French Upon His Majesty's Territories in North America.... London Printed, Boston, New-England, Re-printed and Sold by: D. Fowle and by Z. Fowle, 1755. [2],64pp. and advertisement leaf. Small octavo. Gathered signatures, stitched as issued. Early ownership signature on titlepage. Text evenly tanned, occasional foxing. "F" gathering with some dampstaining. Still very good. Untrimmed. First published in London the same year, this is the very scarce first American edition. A second Boston edition (identified as such on the titlepage) was also issued in 1755, due to the great demand for the work. Huske reviews the history of North American settlement from an English point of view, then describes French aggressions in Nova Scotia, in Maine, penetration into upper New York and the Ohio country and throughout the South. Huske urges immediate war to remedy the situation. "This book was, at the time of its appearance, both inflammatory and influential. It set forth British aims in North America, making a clear, vigorous, and concise attack on the French pretension..." - Lande. Often attributed to John Huske, the North American Imprints Project, DNB, and British Museum CATALOGUE list the author as Ellis Huske (John Huske's younger brother). Ellis Huske was postmaster in Boston in 1734, preceded Benjamin Franklin as deputy postmaster general of the colonies, and was the publisher of the BOSTON WEEKLY POSTBOY for some twenty years. He died in 1755. This copy bears a contemporary ownership signature on the titlepage, "Enoch Kidder's Book." This was quite likely Enoch Kidder (1697-1781) of Billerica, Massachusetts. A lawyer and farmer, Kidder served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 1740s, 1750, and 1760s. HOWES H840, "aa." SABIN 34027. LANDE 463. EVANS 7434. NAIP w028956. WROTH, AMERICAN BOOKSHELF, p.142. DNB X, pp.322-23. APPLETON'S CYCLOPADIA III, p.330.
Price: $7,500.00