Item #84704 THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION). William Smith.
THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)
THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)
THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)
THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)
THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)
THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)

THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR MDCCXXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STATE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE IN THAT COLONY. (LARGE PAPER EDITION)

London, England: Printed for Thomas Wilcox, Bookseller at Virgil's Head, opposite the New Church in the Strand, 1757. First Edition (Limited Thick Paper Edition). Leather-bound. First Edition of the very first history of New York, and one of a very few copies on large and thick paper. Scarce in this format.

"A Few Copies of the 1757 Edition were printed on larger and thicker paper, with wide inner margins". (Sabin) This is one of those very few copies.

4to. 10 3/8' x 8" 1/4" (26.35 cm. x 20.95 cm.) Beautifully rebound in full mottled calf by international award-winning bookbinder Sean Richards of Byzantium Studios in Norman, Oklahoma.

Spine tooled with period gilt designs. Paper repairs to title page and folding plate. Front and rear pastedown endpapers edge trim scalloped in front and smooth at rear. Five raised bands, embellished by gilt roll, and contrasting spine label of dark green, titled in bright gilt.
pp. xii, 255.

Fold-out frontis map of "The South View of Oswego on Lake Ontario", which depicts "forts and buildings on both sides of the Onondaga River, where it empties into Lake Ontario" SUPPLIED from a regular (non large/thick paper)copy and tipped in. Some light toning to portions of text block; eminently readable. Pages are clean and in good order.




Part I: The Discovery of the Colony to the Surrender in 1664; Part II: From the Surrender in 1664, to the Settlement at the Revolution; Part III: From the Revolution to the Second Expedition against Canada; Part IV: From the Canada Expedition in 1709, to the Arrival of Governour Burnet; Part V: From the Year 1720, to the Commencement of the Administration of Colonel Cosby.

Part II: At page 183, a new title page ("The History of New-York), and the book continues: Chapter I: A Geographical Description of the Country (with sections on these counties: West-Chester, Dutchess, Albany, Ulster, Orange, Richond, King's, Queen's, & Suffolk); Chapter II: Of the Inhabitants; Chapter III: Of our Trade; Chapter IV: Of our Religious State; Chapter V: The Political State; Chapter VI: Of our Laws and Courts; (Justices Court, Sessions and Court of Common-Pleas, The Supreme Court, The Court of Admiralty, The Prerogative Court, The Court of the Governour and Council; The Court of Chancery).

"The author states in his preface that the work is based chiefly on the Provincial Laws, the Minutes of the Council, the. Journals of the General Assembly and other government records..." (Sabin)

Howes deems this one of his "d" titles, which he describes: "Very Rare Books, obtainable only with great difficulty..." (Howes S703). Sabin writes that "The History" proper covers pp. 1-180, while a description of the province, geographical, political, etc., forms pp. 181-255" (Sabin 84566).

"This work ranks with Stith's Virginia and Hutchinson's Massachusetts as one of the worthiest examples of historifcal literature produced in later colonial times." (Larned 1109). Near Fine. Item #84704

Smith was a graduate of Yale, a lawyer (admitted to the bar at age 22), later Chief Justice of the Province of New York, and then in Canada. Although a declared loyalist to the crown, Smith had also been known by the ignoble moniker of "The Weathercock" because one never knew on which side he stood. His brother was an unwitting co-conspirator who fell in with Benedict Arnolds traitorous designs. There existed a deep vein of mistrust for the Smith brothers, and some write they both narrowly escaped execution for suspicion of conspiracy. Smith writes in the preface that this work is based chiefly on the Provincial Laws, the Minutes of the Council, the Journals of the General Assembly and other government records, and that he acknowledges his indebtedness to Colden's "History of the Five Indian Nations," and to Charlevoix". Says Larned in The Literature of American History: An example of assiduous scholarship, and truly one of the cornerstones of any serious collection of American Colonial History.

Price: $2,800.00

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