Description of the English Province of Carolana.
Item #74128
COXE, Daniel. A Description of the English Province of Carolana. By the Spaniards Call'd Florida, and By the French, La Louisiane...With A Large and Curious Preface, Demonstrating the Right of the English to that Country, and the Unjust Manner of the French Usurping of it. [London]: Printed for and sold by Olive Payne, 1741. [54],122pp. plus folding copper-engraved map. Antique-style paneled calf, gilt leather label. Some light soiling and foxing, faint dampstaining to a few leaves. Map with two tears to gutter margin, one repaired. A solid copy, about very good. The fourth issue of the first edition, with the important map. With the exception of the title, this fourth issue of what is a highly important work is identical to the first published in 1722. According to William S. Coker in his introduction to the 1976 University of Florida facsimile of the first edition, the three subsequent "editions" were in fact reissues of the unsold sheets of the first edition, with updated titlepages inserted. Both Church and Howes note that the fourth "edition" had additions, but a page-for-page comparison of this copy with the 1722 edition shows that this is incorrect: the setting of everything except the titles is identical. This is one of the first English works to describe the Southeast in any detail. Colonel Coxe laid claim to an enormous amount of land in the South thanks to grants made to his father Dr. Daniel Coxe by King Charles II. Coxe published the present work to further his families' claims, but also to raise awareness of the huge potential of the area and the dangers posed by French incursions. He did not limit himself to the Carolinas, discussing the lower Mississippi in detail as well. Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana are also described. Much of the information, gathered from British hunters and explorers, is published here for the first time. The work is also credited with being the first published proposal of a political confederation of the North American colonies. The map is often missing and is of real importance. Drawn up by the Coxe family to illustrate their claims, it is also the first English depiction of the Mississippi valley. It also improved on all previous maps by eliminating the mountain ranges that were often shown as running beside the Mississippi River, as well as correctly fixing the loca.
Price: $8,500.00