“THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF VIRGINIA… PUBLISHED DURING THE FIRST JEFFERSON ADMINISTRATION”: COMPLETE BURK’S HISTORY OF VIRGINIA, WITH RARELY FOUND POSTHUMOUS VOLUME IV (1816)—“COMPLETE SETS ARE VERY SCARCE”

(VIRGINIA) BURK, John. The History of Virginia, from Its First Settlement to the Present Day. Petersburg, Virginia: Dickson & Pescud, 1804, 1805 (Vol. I-III), Dunnavent, 1816 (Vol. IV). Four volumes. Octavo, modern full mottled brown calf gilt, red morocco labels.

Scarce first editions of all four volumes of Burk’s landmark “first comprehensive” history of Virginia, researched and authored with the assistance of Jefferson, complete with Burk’s Volumes I-III and the posthumous Volume IV containing extensive material on the Revolution “supplied by Thomas Jefferson” (Church), the rarely found Volume IV noted by Sabin as having had a “greater portion… destroyed by fire.”

“Despite the fact that Virginia had been England’s oldest colony in North America and had played a leading role in the Revolution, no comprehensive history of the Old Dominion was published for nearly 30 years after the Declaration of Independence. Virginia had never had a full-scale history… It was John Daly Burk, an Irish emigré, who published during the first Jefferson administration the first comprehensive History of Virginia (three volumes, 1804-1805). Burk’s work would surely attract our interest as the first comprehensive history of Virginia, but of even greater importance is the fact that it reflects the major themes, style and problems of American historical writing during the years immediately following the Revolution…. [when] Americans were faced with the requirements of establishing a new historical identity” (Shaffer, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 77:336). This rare complete four-volume History, “of which the first three volumes were written by Burk, was continued after his death, in 1808, by Skelton Jones and Louis Hue Girardin… Much of the matter for Volume IV, which relates to the Revolution, was supplied by Thomas Jefferson” (Church 1298). While studying Virginia’s role in breaking “the fetters of colonial subjection,” Burk wrote Jefferson, seeking his aid. Jefferson responded by granting Burk access to his “compleat set of the printed laws of Virginia… the only set in existence” and his “volumes of newspapers from 1741 to 1752.” Among the volumes available to Burk was an assemblage of Sessions Acts, noted by Jefferson to be “the only one of which there exists probably no other collection” (Sowerby). Jefferson’s support ensured Burk had “access to official records, many of which have been lost. In consequence, his lengthy appendices are of the highest historical importance” (Eberstadt 107:49). “Complete sets are very scarce—the greater portion of Volume IV having been destroyed by fire” (Sabin). Howes B971. Church 1298. Sabin 9273. Rich II:16. Sowerby 464. Small tipped-in bookseller tickets.

Interiors generally fresh with light scattered foxing, tiny bit of marginal loss to one leaf (II:7) without affecting text, A near-fine set of this important history, attractively bound.