Adair | The history of the American Indians, 1775

BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE EARLS OF HADDINGTON, LOTS 54-108

ADAIR, JAMES

The history of the American Indians; particularly those nations adjoining to the Missisippi [sic], East and West Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia. London: Edward and Charles Dilly, 1775

FIRST EDITION, 4to (260 x 197mm.), half title, folding engraved map, contemporary polished calf, spine gilt in compartment’s with Baillie’s golden fleece motif, red label, upper joint starting

A FINE COPY. The "best eighteenth century English source on the southern tribes" (Howes). James Adair was a frontiersman and fur trader who lived among the Catawba, Chickasaw, and Cherokee for forty years, gathering first-hand information about the customs of these Indian tribes. He was one of the first white settlers to explore the Alleghenies, and because he lived among the Indians, his observations "of the peculiarities of the Southern Indians... is not without great value" (Field, p.3).

LITERATURE:

ESTC T86841; Howes A38; Sabin 155

PROVENANCE:

George Baillie (1664–1738), engraved armorial bookplate applied posthumously; Hon. George Baillie (c.1721–1797), signature on title; thence by descent to the Earls of Haddington