AN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHICAL, COMMERCIAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF THE AMERICAN UNITED STATES, AND OF THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA AND THE WEST-INDIES

London, 1795. Four volumes. 4,viii,[7],591; [4],493; [4],525; [4],415,95,9pp., plus engraved frontispiece in each volume, seventeen engraved plates, and four folding letterpress tables. Publisher's original grey paper backstrips and blue paper boards, paper labels. Minor shelf wear. First volume has a small repaired tear to 3D3v, and 3D4 torn along top edge costing parts of the running titles and first line of text. Small ownership signature on front blank of fourth volume. Else a fine copy. Untrimmed. An advance or proof copy of the first edition of Winterbotham's extensive work on America. This copy has no date on the titlepage, the plates (where indicated) are dated "1794," and the paper is watermarked 1794. The engravings here, in particularly excellent condition, are entirely uncolored, including the tobacco plant, which is usually found colored. Later copies are found with slightly more plates and plans. Presumably this copy was bound before all matter was available, including all the maps, portraits, and the plan of Washington; also, the plates are not distributed throughout the work, but rather found together in the first and second volumes. The directions to the binder are also not present, indicating the work was not completed before this copy was bound. A fascinating early state of a notable publication, entirely unsophisticated, with directions for cancels and other printed bibliographical data still present in the margins.

The author was prosecuted for sedition as a result of two sermons preached in 1792. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of £100 for each sermon. He wrote the present work while serving a term in Newgate Prison. It treats the discovery and early settlement of America, the American Revolution, each of the states in the Northeast and South, Northwest Territory, Canada, and settlements in South America and the West Indies. "A digest of more than two dozen contemporary sources, including the works of Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Belknap, Gordon, Ramsay, and Raynal and census data, state constitutions, and religious tracts" - Gephart. Most of the handsome plates illustrate birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles found in the West Indies. Includes a list of subscribers. HOWES W581, "aa." DNB XXI, pp.693-94. GEPHART 1039. SABIN 104832. DECKER 43:303