Smith, William:

$4,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK, FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR M.DCC.XXXII. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR TRADE, ... This is the first edition of the first history of New York, based largely on the works of Charlevoix and Colden's HISTORY OF THE FIVE NATIONS.... Smith also drew from the journals of the Assembly and the Legislative Council. He was a graduate of Yale who became a distinguished New York lawyer and eventually justice of the province. A Loyalist during the Revolution, Smith moved to Canada at the war's conclusion, and there became a chief justice. This history covers the period up to 1736. Smith wrote a continuation which remained in manuscript form until it was published by the New-York Historical Society in 1826. "Within the period subsequent to the English Revolution, Smith is still without a successful rival. This work ranks with Stith's VIRGINIA and Hutchinson's MASSACHUSETTS, as one of the worthiest examples of historical literature produced in later colonial times" - Larned. Includes the engraved folding frontispiece plate, "The South View of Oswego on Lake Ontario," by J. Mynde, showing buildings and forts along the Onondaga River where it meets Lake Ontario. A foundational New York item.

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