A RELATION OF THE COLONY OF THE LORD BARON OF BALTIMORE, IN MARYLAND, NEAR VIRGINIA; A NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE TO MARYLAND BY FATHER ANDREW WHITE; and Sundry Reports from Fathers Andrew White, John Altham, John Brock, and other Jesuit Fathers of the Colony to the Superior General at Rome.
Washington: Wm. Q. Force, 1846. Disbound. Very Good binding. Item #6418
47pp. Octavo. 47, [1] pp. First edition, thus. Removed from binding. From: Tracts and Other Papers, Relating Principally to the Origins, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America. Volume IV (1846). Here nicely presented in modern laid paper wrappers. Some toning to the leaves including some spotting the last few leaves; early tideline to the fore-edge margin, minor; generally clean.
Copied from the archives of the Jesuits’ College at Rome, by the late Rev. Wm. McSherry, of Georgetown College; and translated for Force’s Historical Tracts, by N. C. Brooks. Contains A Report of the Colony of the Lord Baron of Baltimore, White's narrative of the voyage which seamlessly transitions into extracts of letters recounting the state of the colony from 1635 to 1677. Force printed this without Maryland Historical Society's authorization. Wroth notes in an introduction to his edition of White's Declaration that the Society reprinted this in 1847. "As the Society's typographical seal, made from a cut with an unmistakable break in it, was employed . . . it is likely that these separates were published by the organization as an assertion of its claim upon the material" (quoted from Sabin 103353). This would be reissued by Society in a bilingual Latin/English edition in 1874, Relatio Itineris in Marylandiam, as its Fund Publication No. 7 (Howes W-348). Interestingly, E. A. Dalrymple in the introduction to that edition suggests that the 1847 edition printed by the Society preceded Force's printing. It did not. This present copy from Force's Tracts appears to be the first edition containing White's Relation and his Narrative of the Voyage as well as the accompanying extracts that flesh out an early history of the colony from 1635 to 1677. White's work published in the early 17th century is breathtakingly scarce. Sabin calls his 1634 Relation, "one of the rarest of Anglo-American books" (Sabin 69291). Complicated printing history aside, Clark summarizes White's Relation, "This little pamphlet, written by one of the leading figures in early Maryland history, gives a glowing picture of the country, climate, soil, rivers, conditions of settlement, the 'commodities which this Country affords,' the commodities 'that may be procured in Maryland by industry,' a discussion of the [Native Americans] and their manner of living, and a detailed account of 'such necessary provisions as every Adventurer must carry, according to the number of his servants; together with an estimate of their prices.'" Clark I, 176. Sabin 103352.
Price: $50.00