Scarce 1779 Aberdeen edition of A Philosophical and Political History of the British Settlements and Trade in North America, an important Revolutionary-era work concerning the history, commerce, government, and colonial development of British North America.
Title: A Philosophical and Political History of the British Settlements and Trade in North America
Imprint:
Aberdeen: Printed and Sold by J. Boyle, 1779
Format:
Two volumes bound together in one physical volume.
The work is associated with the writings of the influential French Enlightenment historian and philosopher Guillaume-Thomas Raynal (Abbé Raynal) and derives from his celebrated history of European colonialism and overseas commerce.
This North American work examines the British colonies from historical, political, economic, and philosophical perspectives and was published during the American Revolutionary War, when questions concerning Britain's North American colonies, their commerce, government, and relationship with the mother country were of immediate international importance.
The work first appeared in this English North American form in Edinburgh in 1776. The present copy is the distinct and considerably less commonly encountered Aberdeen printing of 1779 by J. Boyle.
Unlike an incomplete single volume, this example contains both Volume I and Volume II bound together as one book, representing the complete two-volume work in its one-volume binding format.
The Aberdeen edition is notably difficult to find in the antiquarian marketplace compared with the better-known Edinburgh printing, making it an appealing edition for collectors of:
Published in 1779, while the American Revolution was actively underway, the book belongs to the period in which European readers were intensely debating the history, value, governance, and future of Britain's American colonies.
Raynal's broader writings were among the major Enlightenment critiques and examinations of European colonial expansion, commerce, slavery, imperialism, and political authority. This North American extract concentrates specifically on the British settlements and trade in America.
The 1779 date gives the volume particular appeal as a contemporary Revolutionary War-era publication rather than a later retrospective history.
Antiquarian condition with expected age-related wear. Please examine all photographs carefully for the exact condition of the binding, boards, spine, hinges, pages, staining, foxing, inscriptions, edge wear, and other imperfections.
Both volumes are present and bound together in one physical book.
No claim of a modern restoration or specific binding date is made unless visible in the photographs.
A scarce 1779 Aberdeen J. Boyle printing of an important Enlightenment-era examination of British North America, published during the American Revolution and complete with Volumes I and II bound in one.