SMITH, William].

Etat Present de la Pensilvanie, ou l'on trouve le Detail de ce qui s y est pass‚ depuis la d‚faite du G‚n‚ral Braddock jusqu a la prise d'Oswego, avec une Carte particuli‚re [sic] de cette Colonie.

[Paris?], 1756. First edition in French. l2mo; pp. 128; engraved folding map; later quarter-calf and marbled boards; marbled endpapers; light wear at corners; neat perforation on title and few leaves; otherwise an exceptionally clean, very good copy with the bookplate of G. Ducharme, late Quebec bookseller and collector. The perforation is that of the O.F.M. Quebec. The library of the O.F.M. (Ordre des Freres Mineurs) was dispersed many years ago. (cgc). Item #42594

T.P.L. 252; Dionne II: 535; Howes P216; Sabin I 93 70," Streeter Sale U. 960; not in Lande. The English edition of this work was a sequel to the authors A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania... of 1755. William Smith (1727-1803) was provost of of the College of Philadelphia and in this work attacks the Quakers for their conduct in the face of the war with France. Sabin and Howes attribute this translation of Smiths A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania..., published the same year, to Abbe Jean-Ignace de la Ville, the first commissioner to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. To this work de la Ville has added some other material, notably the Description Abr‚g‚e de la Pensilvanie, and the Relation contenant la suite de ce qui s'est pass‚ en Pensilvanie. "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 First Nations atrocities. It must have made good reading in France, especially because of the abbreviated and pungent way it was rewritten. " -(Streeter).

Price: $2,000.00