[Smith, William]:

$1,750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

ÉTAT PRÉSENT DE LA PENSILVANIE, OÙ L'ON TROUVE LE DÉTAIL DE CE QUI S'Y EST PASSÉ DEPUIS LA DÉFAITE DU GÉNÉRAL BRADDOCK JUSQU'À LA PRISE D'OSWEGO, AVEC UNE CARTE PARTICULIÈRE DE CETTE ... Sabin and Howes attribute this translation to the Abbé Jean Ignace de la Ville, the first commissioner to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Contained in the work is an abridgement of William Smith's A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania, for the Year 1755..., in French, published the same year as the first separate edition. One of the most important works relating to the state of affairs between the Popular Party and the Proprietary Party at the time, Smith attacks the Quakers and the Popular Party. "This book...was evidently designed to make the French people happy over the course of the struggle with the English in North America. It abridges Smith's Brief View with its portrayal of the helplessness of Pennsylvania in repulsing Indian atrocities. It must have made good reading in France, especially because of the abbreviated and pungent way it was rewritten" - Streeter. De La Ville has added to this edition some further remarks entitled "Rélation contenant la suite de ce qui s'est passé en Pensilvanie," as well as a translation of an act establishing a Pennsylvania militia and a brief description of Pennsylvania, illustrated with the attractive map.Nebenzahl paid $100 for the Streeter copy in 1967. It is now at the Cincinnati Public Library.

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