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PROPERTY FROM THE ROSEBROOK COLLECTION
BURGOYNE, John, Gen. (1722-1792). A State of the Expedition from Canada, as laid before the House of Commons. London: J. Almon, 1780.
Details
BURGOYNE, John, Gen. (1722-1792). A State of the Expedition from Canada, as laid before the House of Commons. London: J. Almon, 1780.
Large 4° (277 x 222 mm). 6 engraved folding maps by William Faden (2 with overlays) partially hand-colored. (Some offsetting, occasional short tears, one just crossing border and touching image, some light spotting, one small pinhole in image.) 19th-century brown half morocco, marbled boards, edges gilt (some light rubbing or wear). Provenance: William Charles de Meuron [Wentworth-Fitzwilliam] (1872-1943), 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (armorial bookplate on pastedown).
FIRST EDITION of Burgoyne's chief defense of his conduct as the commander of the British expedition proceeding southward from Canada in 1777. Intended to cut the New England states off from the rest of rebellious America, the expedition ended in disaster at Saratoga, where American forces defeated Burgoyne and forced his surrender. Not until May 1778, when was he paroled, exchanged and allowed to return home to bitter recriminations, did he demand an audience with the King as well as a court-martial to vindicate his honor. Both requests denied, he instead presented his case to the Commons and published this record of the proceedings. He persuasively shifts blame for his defeat to Howe's failure to come north and to the unwise orders imposed on him by Lord George Germain. On his fateful decision to cross the Hudson and engage Gates's superior force, Burgoyne argues that he still expected help from New York City. "I read again my orders (I believe for an hundredth time) and I was decided. And I am still convinced that... [nothing]... could have justified me to my country, have saved me from the condemnation of my profession, or produced pardon within my own breast, had I not advanced, and tried a battle with the enemy" (p.15). Burgoyne survived and went on to side with the opposition faction in Parliament and, at length, to champion American independence. Howes B-968; Lande 69 (second edition); Nebenzahl, A Bibliography of the Battle Plans of the American Revolution 48, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57; Sabin 9255; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 503 (second edition).
Large 4° (277 x 222 mm). 6 engraved folding maps by William Faden (2 with overlays) partially hand-colored. (Some offsetting, occasional short tears, one just crossing border and touching image, some light spotting, one small pinhole in image.) 19th-century brown half morocco, marbled boards, edges gilt (some light rubbing or wear). Provenance: William Charles de Meuron [Wentworth-Fitzwilliam] (1872-1943), 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (armorial bookplate on pastedown).
FIRST EDITION of Burgoyne's chief defense of his conduct as the commander of the British expedition proceeding southward from Canada in 1777. Intended to cut the New England states off from the rest of rebellious America, the expedition ended in disaster at Saratoga, where American forces defeated Burgoyne and forced his surrender. Not until May 1778, when was he paroled, exchanged and allowed to return home to bitter recriminations, did he demand an audience with the King as well as a court-martial to vindicate his honor. Both requests denied, he instead presented his case to the Commons and published this record of the proceedings. He persuasively shifts blame for his defeat to Howe's failure to come north and to the unwise orders imposed on him by Lord George Germain. On his fateful decision to cross the Hudson and engage Gates's superior force, Burgoyne argues that he still expected help from New York City. "I read again my orders (I believe for an hundredth time) and I was decided. And I am still convinced that... [nothing]... could have justified me to my country, have saved me from the condemnation of my profession, or produced pardon within my own breast, had I not advanced, and tried a battle with the enemy" (p.15). Burgoyne survived and went on to side with the opposition faction in Parliament and, at length, to champion American independence. Howes B-968; Lande 69 (second edition); Nebenzahl, A Bibliography of the Battle Plans of the American Revolution 48, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57; Sabin 9255; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 503 (second edition).