Difference between revisions of "History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia"

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===by William Stith===
 
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This is the first edition, second issue, of Stith's book, which is one of the first American histories to be written and printed in the British colonies, and the first such in Virginia. Stith, who was well connected in the colony, had access to numerous important sources, including the library of William Byrd of Westover, the personal collections of Sir John Randolph, county court books, the official records of the London Company, and John Smith's seminal ''Generall Historie of Virginia.'' This is one of the earliest accessible Virginia imprints, and one of the most interesting. <ref> Berg, Williamsburg Imprints 58. Evans 6071. Sabin 91860. Swem 5325. Howes S1014, "b." Church 963. Streeter sale 1100. </ref>
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<blockquote> Stith's History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia was published in Williamsburg in 1747 and followed by a London edition of 1753. In it he traced the first seventeen years of the history of England's first permanent colony in North America, from its founding in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London to the dissolution of the company in 1624. Long regarded by later historians as a pioneering example of scholarship based on extensive research in original sources Stith's work was in other respects more subjective, praising what he regarded as the more liberal policies of a reform-minded group of Virginia Company officials and roundly condemning what he perceived as the authoritarian intentions of the initial leaders and James I. <ref> Thad W. Tate, ‘Stith, William (1707–1755)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/68752, accessed 6 June 2013]</ref> </blockquote>
  
 
==Bibliographic Information==
 
==Bibliographic Information==

Revision as of 13:27, 6 June 2013

by William Stith

Stith's History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia was published in Williamsburg in 1747 and followed by a London edition of 1753. In it he traced the first seventeen years of the history of England's first permanent colony in North America, from its founding in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London to the dissolution of the company in 1624. Long regarded by later historians as a pioneering example of scholarship based on extensive research in original sources Stith's work was in other respects more subjective, praising what he regarded as the more liberal policies of a reform-minded group of Virginia Company officials and roundly condemning what he perceived as the authoritarian intentions of the initial leaders and James I. [1]

Bibliographic Information

Author: William Stith

Title: The History Of The First Discovery And Settlement Of Virginia: Being An Essay Towards A General History Of This Colony.

Publication Info: Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks, 1747.

Edition: First

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Mentioned by George Wythe in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 6, 1775 - …the matters you are considering are the same that are in the appendix to Mr. Stith’s History…

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in antique paneled calf with spine gilt and gilt morocco label. Purchased from William Reese Company.

References

  1. ↑ Thad W. Tate, ‘Stith, William (1707–1755)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 6 June 2013
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