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Details
DURRELL, Philip. A Particular Account of the Taking of Cape Breton from the French, by Admiral Warren, and Sir William Pepperell, the 17th of June 1745. London: W. Bickerton, 1745.
2o (363 x 240 mm). 8 pages. (Pale stain at upper left.) Uncut, unbound sheets as issued; red quarter morocco slipcase.
THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION of Durrell's account of the siege of Louisbourg. Durrell was Captain of the ship Superbe and two accounts are recorded here. One, by Durell, in the form of a letter dated from his ship in Louisbourg Harbor, 20 June, the other from "an Officer of the Marines," dated Louisbourg, 21 June. A "Third letter by another Hand" dated London, 8 August comments on Durrell's letter and praises Pepperell, "an eminent Merchant in New-England...has generously expended upwards of Ten thousand Pounds out of his own Pocket upon this Occasion" (p. 7).
The siege of Louisbourg had wide-reaching implications and was not an isolated event in the history of relations between England and France. For some, notably William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, "The attack on Louisburg in 1745 was looked upon...only as a step towards a complete conquest of Canada" (Lande, about Shirley's Letter, 1746). Shirley pressed the English to approve an expedition against Canada and a force of over eight thousand men was raised, principally from the northern colonies. The British force which was to have co-operated was, however, detained either by bad weather or by the blundering of the ministry, and nothing came of the attempt. No copies of Durrell's account appear in American Book Prices Current since at least 1960 and it does not appear in Lande or Staton & Tremaine/TPL. Alden & Landis 745/70; Sabin 21419; Simmons 1745#17; Waldon p. 294.
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THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION of Durrell's account of the siege of Louisbourg. Durrell was Captain of the ship Superbe and two accounts are recorded here. One, by Durell, in the form of a letter dated from his ship in Louisbourg Harbor, 20 June, the other from "an Officer of the Marines," dated Louisbourg, 21 June. A "Third letter by another Hand" dated London, 8 August comments on Durrell's letter and praises Pepperell, "an eminent Merchant in New-England...has generously expended upwards of Ten thousand Pounds out of his own Pocket upon this Occasion" (p. 7).
The siege of Louisbourg had wide-reaching implications and was not an isolated event in the history of relations between England and France. For some, notably William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, "The attack on Louisburg in 1745 was looked upon...only as a step towards a complete conquest of Canada" (Lande, about Shirley's Letter, 1746). Shirley pressed the English to approve an expedition against Canada and a force of over eight thousand men was raised, principally from the northern colonies. The British force which was to have co-operated was, however, detained either by bad weather or by the blundering of the ministry, and nothing came of the attempt. No copies of Durrell's account appear in American Book Prices Current since at least 1960 and it does not appear in Lande or Staton & Tremaine/TPL. Alden & Landis 745/70; Sabin 21419; Simmons 1745#17; Waldon p. 294.