[WEST, Benjamin]. [PANTHER, Abraham].

Bickerstaff's Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord, 1788. Being

Item #71356

[WEST, Benjamin]. [PANTHER, Abraham]. Bickerstaff's Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord, 1788. Being Bissextile of Leap Year, and Twelfth of American Independence. Norwich. [1787]. [24]pp. Original plain wrappers, stitched, as issued. Faint contemporary ink notations on covers. Minor toning, light foxing. Very good. A rare and important Bickerstaff's almanac, containing the first printing of the famous Abraham Panther Indian Captivity. Titled, "A Surprising account of the Discovery of a Lady who was taken by the Indians in the year 1787, and after making her escape, she retired to a lonely Cave, where she lived nine years," the captivity narrative covers pp.19-24 of the almanac. The captivity account was found to be fictional, but was nonetheless popular and reprinted more than twenty times between this first appearance and 1814. Rare, with only three copies reported in ESTC. EVANS 20875. DRAKE 416. TRUMBULL 1846. VAIL 767. SABIN 93891. AYER SUPPLEMENT 13. JONES CHECKLIST 608. ESTC W25617.

Price: $2,500.00