An Account of the Present State of Nova Scotia by [HOLLINGSWORTH, Samuel] - 1786

Edinburgh: Printed for William Creech and T. Longman, 1786. 8vo. viii, 157, [1]pp. Contemporary marbled paper boards, rebacked with tan calf, spine lettered in gilt, endpapers renewed. Scarce promotional tract to encourage emigration to Nova Scotia. Written in the years following the end of the American Revolution, and dedicated to John Lord Sheffield, the author gives a full account of the natural resources of Nova Scotia to encourage British settlement in order to strengthen British control of the North American fisheries. The work includes chapters devoted to the flora and fauna, climate, cities and settlements, Native Americans, fur trade and the fisheries. Hollingsworth concludes that the British province would see enormous growth in the coming decades, foretelling the failure of the United States, or "new fangled states, where a rude and imperfect fabric is suddenly raised upon the sandy foundations of a turbulent democracy..." Staton & Tremaine (who list only the 1787 second edition) say: "Written mainly while the author was in America, the work treats of relations with the United States, Indians, the fur trade, fisheries, settlements, government, etc." Sabin 32543; Staton & Tremaine 592 (second edition); ESTC T102232.