BOLLAN, William (d. 1776). Coloniae Anglicanae Illustratae: or, the Acquest of Dominion, and the Plantation of Colonies Made by the English in America, with the Rights of the Colonists, Examined, stated, and illustrated. London, 1762.

BOLLAN, William (d. 1776). Coloniae Anglicanae Illustratae: or, the Acquest of Dominion, and the Plantation of Colonies Made by the English in America, with the Rights of the Colonists, Examined, stated, and illustrated. London, 1762.

Part I [all issued], 4° (278 x 215 mm). (Some pale dampstaining.) Original paper-backed boards, uncut (worn).

FIRST EDITION. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY BOLLAN on the front free endpaper: "Presented to the Honble. House of Representatives of Massachusetts Province, by their most obedient, and most humble servant The Author." With a manuscript note laid in from the Comte de Rochambeau, dated “Paris ce 28 fevrier 1787.” Bollan was colonial agent from Massachusetts in England from 1745 to 1762. He was a fervent lobbyist on behalf of the colony, and secured wartime reimbursement for Massachusetts. When his father-in-law, William Shirley, was replaced by Thomas Pownall as governor of the colony, Bollan's political career was threatened. Bollan eventually abandoned the role of colonial agent, and became a patriotic writer, as evidenced in the present work. JCB and NYPL have copies with variant imprint: London, printed; and sold by S. Baker, 1762. Sabin only cites that issue. The priority has not been determined. Howes B-568; Sabin 6209 ("a very learned work, but of which, unfortunately, no more was published").