An Account of the European Settlements in America [Association copy owned by Thomas E. Lovejoy]

London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, 1758. Second edition. Two volumes. Octavo. Contemporary full leather, spine labels. Scuffing to boards; offsetting to endpapers from leather tips; spotting and toning to certain leaves with occasional foxing; starting to front joints; wear to leather and boards, particularly at corners. Two in-tact folding maps. A bright and well-preserved second edition of this classic survey of European settlements in the Americas, in two volumes, with originally issued folding maps. From the personal library of Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy, famed American ecologist, biologist, and conservationist. Very good.. Second edition of An Account of the European Settlements in America, attributed to Edmund Burke (1729-1797), who is believed to have revised the initial account authored (or co-authored) by purported kinsman William Burke (1729-1798). Edmund Burke is today best remembered for his Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), which offered an enduring polemic against the French Revolution and defense of modern conservative principles. Edmund Burke was an early and outspoken defender of liberal values, including religious toleration and free speech, and advocated for constitutional limitations on the English Crown. He also sympathized with the grievances of the American colonies and supported the fledgling colonies' fight for independence in the Revolutionary War. William Burke was an English pamphleteer and politician who is believed to have contributed to the Junius Letters, an assembly of polemical pseudonymous letters critical of King George III published in England's Public Advertiser between 1769 and 1772. Edmund and William Burke were traveling companions and are believed to have collaborated together on the publication of An Account of the European Settlements in America, which explores the history, agriculture, trade, and political relations among the European colonies, including settlements within South America and the West Indies, and describes the customs and manners of their peoples. Published on the eve of the American Revolution, the Account offers a fascinating historical survey of the European colonies as seen through the eyes of two prominent European political thinkers. This second edition, in two volumes, includes two originally issued folding maps of various settlement regions. A rare and bright second edition of this classic work of history and sociology. The two volumes are from the library of Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy (1941-2021), an American ecologist, biologist, and conservationist who has been affectionately titled the Godfather of Biodiversity.