| Abbe Jean-Ignace de la VILLE — Etat present de la Pensilvanie, ou l'on trouve le detail de ce qui s'y est passe depuis la defaite du General Braddock jusqu' a la prise d'Oswege, avec une carte particuliere de cette colonie |
 |
Etat present de la Pensilvanie, ou l'on trouve le detail de ce qui s'y est passe depuis la defaite du General Braddock jusqu' a la prise d'Oswege, avec une carte particuliere de cette colonie |
|
12mo., (6 3/8 x 4 inches). Fine engraved folding map: "Carte de la Pensilvanie," woodcut head-and tailpiece. Contemporary German half sheep and plain parchment boards, printed paper label on the spine (a little rubbed). Provenance: Engraved armorial bookplate of the Counts Goertz on the front paste-down, and 19th-century ink library stamp of the title-page. First edition and a FINE AND ATTRACTIVE COPY. An abridgement of William Smith's "Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania, for the year 1755", published the same year in London, soon after the official outbreak of the French and Indian War. This French translation, attributed to the Abbe de la Ville by Sabin, was published in late August or September of 1756, with a view to obtaining French support for the struggle against the English in North America. The Pennsylvanian colonists are portrayed as helpless and vulnerable to hostile native attacks, in spite of the efforts of Benjamin Franklin to build forts and raise troops and funding for the army of General Braddock, commander in chief of the British forces in America. La Ville's extract from Smith occupies only the central portion of the book, being prefaced by a brief description of the geography and populations of the Pennsylvania colony (pages 7-20), and followed by an account of the vents that took place in Pennsylvania from the defeat and death of General Braddock in 1755 to the end of August 1756 (pages 81-108). The volume concludes with a French translation of an Act of November 25, 1755, passed by the Pennsylvania Assembly, for "imposing order on those inhabitants of Pennsylvania who wish to become together as a militia". Howes, page 216; Streeter sale 2:960; Sabin 19370. |
|
|
|
