A REPLY TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL BURGOYNE'S LETTER TO HIS CONSTITUENTS
London, England: Printed for J. Wilkie, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1779. Second Edition. Removed. Octavo, 8 1/4" x 5" pp. 46. Missing half-title and title-page. Removed from a book of pamphlets. First and last page lightly browned. Possible contemporary ink inscription "P. 34" on first page. Interior pages lightly tanned. Sharp print on remarkably clean pages. Thumb-sized smudge, pp. 5. Very slight paper loss and browning on top-edge, leaf 5 and fore-edge, leaf 10. (ESTC T105710) (Adams, 79-93b) (Sabin 9266). Good. Item #84623
This pamphlet was one of a slew of tracts condemning British General John Burgoyne's humiliating defeat at the hands of American Revolutionary forces at Saratoga in 1777, in which he planned to invade New England from Canada in the north, but moved too slowly, thus permitting the American forces to concentrate. Burgoyne (or "Gentleman Johnny" as he was also known), found himself surrounded at Saratoga, New York, because British forces in New York, came NOT to his aid, but to Philadelphia instead. On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne surrendered his entire force of 6,200 men. This "marked a turning point in the American Revolutionary War. The American victory boosted the morale of the troops and persuaded the French, Spanish, and Dutch to join the Revolutionary cause." (Wikipedia). General Burgoyne returned to England and never held a military post again.
According to Sabin, the authorship of this pamphlet was "attributed to Sir John Dalrymple, but with more probability to George Germaine, Lord Sackville, who was colonial secretary during the American Revolutionary War." Connecticut bookseller William Reese Company notes: "Adams, however, notes that the John Carter Brown Library's copy of the third edition bears a contemporary note on the titlepage, "by R.D."
Price: $300.00