THE DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT AND PRESENT STATE OF KENTUCKE: AND AN ESSAY TOWARDS THE TOPOGRAPHY, AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THAT IMPORTANT COUNTRY...THE ADVENTURES OF COL. DANIEL BOON, ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS...AN ACCOUNT OF THE INDIAN NATIONS...THE STAGES AND
Filson, John:
Wilmington, De.: Printed by James Adams, 1784. 118pp. plus final original blank. Contemporary wrapper, with original side stitching, untrimmed. Contemporary ownership inscription on front wrapper: "Toeb----[?] Hopkins, Book, Discovery and Settlement of Kentucke, 1769." Two brief references to passages in the text in a contemporary hand on recto of rear wrapper. Wrapper worn and soiled. Titlepage worn and soiled, with repaired tear (affecting half a dozen words). Second contemporary ownership inscription on verso of final original blank, "Connell Israell Angell His Book Thare was a garl [sic] and she." A few ink marks in margins of a few pages, upper outer corner of pp.95-96 torn (no loss). A very good copy. In a half morocco and cloth box. A remarkable copy of this key work of late 18th-century Americana in a contemporary binding with contemporary inscriptions, and with the text pages untrimmed. According to Vail, Filson's DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT AND PRESENT STATE OF KENTUCKE is the "most famous and important frontier book of the period." The first accurate description of the beautiful country south of the Ohio River and west of the Alleghenies just beginning to open to American settlement, the work also brought to the American public for the first time the figure of Daniel Boone, the quintessential American frontiersman whose adventures are described here in detail. Boone's experiences with Indians and his numerous captivities and escapes are covered. Filson himself was later murdered by Indians in Kentucky. Filson's map, which is described on the titlepage as accompanying the book, was in fact issued in Philadelphia, and is virtually never found with the book. The first edition of ...KENTUCKE... is of the greatest rarity. One of the key American frontier books, here in a remarkable contemporary binding with contemporary inscriptions. STREETER SALE 1621. VAIL 694. EVANS 18467. CHURCH 1202. SABIN 24336. GRAFF 1323. RINK, DELAWARE 182. HOWES F129, "d."
(Item ID: WRCAM37479) $30,000.00