EXCEPTIONALLY RARE 1812 FIRST EDITION OF SANDERS' HISTORY OF THE INDIAN WARS

[SANDERS, Daniel Clarke]. A History of the Indian Wars with the First Settlers of the United States, Particularly in New-England. Montpelier, VT: Wright and Sibley, 1812. 16mo, modern three-quarter brown calf gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. $1350.

Extremely rare first edition of one of the best histories of the Indian wars in New England.

The fate of this work has challenged collectors since shortly after its publication. In response to a backlash against Sanders' criticism of colonial bigotry and the cruel treatment of Indians, either the publishers or Sanders himself suppressed the book. "So nearly complete was the destruction of the book that it was forgotten by those who professed to know the most of its author, his biographers" (Field 1351). This volume represents a remarkably thorough effort for the era in which it was written. Preliminary chapters are devoted to a general overview of Native Americans, with the author devoting the bulk of the book to chapters organized by geography or chronologically by particular military conflict. There are sections devoted to Queen Anne's War, King Philip's War, the French and Indian Wars, Major George Washington's involvement in battles with Indians, and Indians during the Revolutionary War. Sanders, as the founding president of the University of Vermont, is particularly interested in Vermont's Native American history, and he devotes an entire chapter to Vermont's Indians. Despite the title, only about half of the book is specifically about Indian wars. The rest is a comprehensive historical, anthropological and archaeological account of Western knowledge of Native Americans in 1812. Sanders discusses: the theories of the origins of Indians (from migration through the Bering Straight, through being the Ten Lost Tribes); agriculture; comparative linguistics; religion; morality; culture; art and technology. With preliminary blank. Streeter II 727. Church 1306. Sabin 76366. Howes S84. Early owner inscription.

Only light soiling and wear to text. A desirable, near-fine copy of this rare early historical work on Native Americans.