[SMITH, William].

Etat present de la Pensilvanie

Item #83701

[SMITH, William]. Etat present de la Pensilvanie, Ou l'on Trouve le detail de ce que s'y est passe depuis la defaite du General Braddock jusqu'a la prise d'Oswego. Avec une Carte particuliere de Cette Colonie. [Paris], 1756. 128pp. plus folding map.[with] Memoire pour les ministres d'Angleterre, contre l'amiral Byng, et contre l'auteur du People Instruit. [Paris], 1757. [4], 103pp. Contemporary full calf, red morocco spine label, spine gilt. Joints and extremities lightly rubbed, some losses to spine label, else a crisp, near fine copy. Howes P-216. Sabin 19370. Streeter Sale 960. Vail 516 (note). Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania, for the Year 1755... in French, published the same year as the first separate edition. One of the most important works relating to the state of affairs between the Popular Party and the Proprietary Party at the time. Smith attacks the Quakers and the Popular Party. "This book...was evidently designed to make the French people happy over the course of the struggle with the English in North America. It abridges Smith's Brief View with its portrayal of the helplessness of Pennsylvania in repulsing Indian atrocities. It must have made good reading in France, especially because of the abbreviated and pungent way it was rewritten" - Streeter. The second work is a French translation of the anonymous pamphlet "An appeal to the sense of the people on the present posture of affairs," a response to the execution of Admiral John Byng, who was court-martialed and sentenced to death after the loss of the Battle of Minorca.

Price: $1,750.00