A Key into the Language of America: or, An help to the Language of the Natives in that part of America, called New England by Williams, Roger - 1643

London: Gregory Dexter, 1643. First edition of Williams' first printed book: the first English-Native American dictionary. [16], 197, [3] pp (errors in pagination as issued). Collation: A-O^8 [C4 signed as B4]. Without the rear endpaper. 1 vols. Small 8vo (132 x 82 mm). Contemporary calf, covers ruled in blind, rebacked and recornered, some wear at edges. Small hole on B1 touching one letter, minor toning at sheet edges. First edition of Williams' first printed book: the first English-Native American dictionary. [16], 197, [3] pp (errors in pagination as issued). Collation: A-O^8 [C4 signed as B4]. Without the rear endpaper. 1 vols. Small 8vo (132 x 82 mm). Siebert's Copy of a Cornerstone Americanum. "The first book by the author, first book on Indian linguistics of New England and one of the first descriptions of the manners and customs of those Indians, written by one intimately associated with them" (Vail)

Williams arrived in puritanical New England in 1630, setting in motion the events which would eventually lead to the founding of Rhode Island. A devout non-conformist, Williams opposed the lack of separation between church and state in Massachusetts Bay and, perhaps even more controversially, he opposed the English appropriation of Native lands and advocated for fair trade and Native rights. Banished from the colony in 1635, Governor Winthrop warned him of his impending arrest and Williams fled to Narragansett Bay.

Aided by the Wampanoag and Narragansett he had befriended years earlier when he traded among them, he quickly became a political leader of the community and his ideas of liberty of conscience and separation of church and state took concrete form. In 1643, Williams returned to England to defend the Narragansett Bay settlements, and wrote A Key into the Language of America while on board ship. He writes in the preface: "This Key, respects the Native languages of it, and happily may unlocke some Rarities concerning the Natives themselves, not yet discovered." It was published in London by his friend Gregory Dexter whilst Williams was negotiating the charter for Providence Plantations.

The book is the first English-Native American dictionary of note, preceding Eliot's Indian grammar by 23 years, and the careful observations of speech and customs is a testament to Williams's respect for the Indians with whom he had such strong ties. Indeed, the work is remarkable for the period in presenting Native American culture as not only complex, but in some ways superior to the English and for presenting a narrative portraying the Native tribes as far more than heathens in need of civilization. Historian Perry Miller would praise the work as "the nearest approach to an objective anthropological study that anyone was to achieve in America for a century or more."

This example from the famed collection of Frank T. Siebert, purchased by him from Henry Stevens of Vermont in 1944; Stevens had purchased this example from Quaritch in 1939, where it is listed in a catalogue for £150; Quaritch, in turn, had acquired it at the 1937 auction of the Newhailes library (Sotheby's, 24 May 1937, lot 435, £88). As with the majority of the volumes in the Newhailes library, the work was likely from the collection of Sir David Dalrymple (1726-92), Lord Hailes, 3rd Baronet of Hailes. An important book collector, Lord Hailes was a major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, and close associate of Adam Smith and David Hume. Sabin 104339; Wing W2766; Brinley 2380 (copy now in LoC); Church 460; Field 1662 ("Very rare"); Vail 102; Ayer, Naragansett 5; Pilling Algonquian, pp. 526-7; not in Streeter; Siebert 497 (this copy)