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DENTON, Daniel (c.1626-1703). A Brief Description of New-York: Formerly Called New Netherlands. With the Places thereunto Adjoyning. Together with the Manner of its Scituation, Fertility of the Soyle, Healthfulness of the Climate, and the Commodities thence produced. Likewise A Brief Relation of the Customs of the Indians there. London: John Hancock, 1670.
Small 4° (188 x 144mm). (Without the front blank, imprint just shaved but with only minor loss, gathering C shorter by 2mm.) 20th-century half morocco, spine lettered in gilt along the spine. Provenance: Sotheby's (sold, 25 June 1987, lot 382; some light pencilled marginalia).
FIRST EDITION. 'THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF NEW YORK PRINTED IN ENGLISH AND VERY RARE' (Sabin). Daniel Denton had served as Justice of the Peace in New York in 1665-1666; his first-hand account, perhaps intended to encourage further English settlement, includes much detail on the topography and natural history of the region, and local habits (e.g. 'their recreations are chiefly Foot-ball and Cards, at which they will play away all they have'). His statement that 'a Divine Hand makes way for [the settlers], by removing or cutting off the Indians' (p.7), is sometimes interpreted as an early formulation of Manifest Destiny. The present copy is one of very few with the title and publication date fully legible: because of the height of the title in relation to the rest of the text, in most copies the binder's knife has trimmed either the 'A' in 'A Brief Description' or one line or more of the imprint -- often the publication date is lacking altogether. RARE: ABPC records only 2 other copies at auction in over 35 years. Church 608; Howes D-259; JCB III, p.194; Sabin 19611; Wing D-1062; not in Streeter.
Small 4° (188 x 144mm). (Without the front blank, imprint just shaved but with only minor loss, gathering C shorter by 2mm.) 20th-century half morocco, spine lettered in gilt along the spine. Provenance: Sotheby's (sold, 25 June 1987, lot 382; some light pencilled marginalia).
FIRST EDITION. 'THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF NEW YORK PRINTED IN ENGLISH AND VERY RARE' (Sabin). Daniel Denton had served as Justice of the Peace in New York in 1665-1666; his first-hand account, perhaps intended to encourage further English settlement, includes much detail on the topography and natural history of the region, and local habits (e.g. 'their recreations are chiefly Foot-ball and Cards, at which they will play away all they have'). His statement that 'a Divine Hand makes way for [the settlers], by removing or cutting off the Indians' (p.7), is sometimes interpreted as an early formulation of Manifest Destiny. The present copy is one of very few with the title and publication date fully legible: because of the height of the title in relation to the rest of the text, in most copies the binder's knife has trimmed either the 'A' in 'A Brief Description' or one line or more of the imprint -- often the publication date is lacking altogether. RARE: ABPC records only 2 other copies at auction in over 35 years. Church 608; Howes D-259; JCB III, p.194; Sabin 19611; Wing D-1062; not in Streeter.