A discourse : vindicating His Royal Master from the insolencies of a scandalous libel printed under the title of (An extract out of the register of the States General of the United Provinces, upon the memorial of Sir George Downing envoyée &c.) and delivered by the agent de Heyde for such to several publick ministers, wheras no such resolution was ever communicated to the same envoyée, nor any answer at all returned by Their Lordships to the said memorial

1664 1st ed NEW YORK George Downing Discourse on DUTCH Settlements Indians 2v

Two exceedingly rare first editions of George Downing's defense of New York!

George Downing was an Irish preacher and political apologist known for his service under Oliver Cromwell in Scotland. In 1664 he wrote a short political letter describing the details of his arrangement of the acquisition of New York from the Dutch. 'A Discourse', as it is called, was written to clear his own name from any misconduct in the exchange. One of the most notable discussions in this work is a report on the miserable interactions of the Dutch settlers with local Indian tribes, as well as business and trade in New York. It should be noted that this work is considered one of the earliest works relating to New York in English! (Stevens).

A year after his first letter was written, he wrote his own reply – a work, which according to 'Rare Americana', was

"privately printed, and relates principally to the affairs of the English and Dutch West India Company, and the pretensions of the latter, with the right of Great Britain to New Netherland, which the Dutch claimed by reason of their being in occupation there for some forty or fifty years, although they acknowledged that that part was within the patents granted to New England, and that the English did take possession before an Dutch landed there."

Item number: #5309

Price: $7500

DOWNING, George Sir

A discourse : vindicating His Royal Master from the insolencies of a scandalous libel printed under the title of (An extract out of the register of the States General of the United Provinces, upon the memorial of Sir George Downing envoyée &c.) and delivered by the agent de Heyde for such to several publick ministers, wheras no such resolution was ever communicated to the same envoyée, nor any answer at all returned by Their Lordships to the said memorial

London: printed by J[ohn]. M[acock]., anno Domini, 1664. First edition.

Details:

Collation: Complete with all pages; 2 volumes

Vol. I – "A Discourse written by Sir George Downing…"

21, [1]

Vol. II – "A Reply of Sir George Downing Knight and Baronet, Envoy…to the Remarks of the Deputies of the Estates-General"

London, 1665.

[2], 104

Wing D 2018; Sabin 20787

Reference: Wing D 2106; Sabin 20779 (1672 ed); Stevens, Rare Americana, vol 20, p. 13;

Language: English

Binding: Leather; tight & secure

Size: ~8in X 6in (20.5cm x 15cm)

Both exceedingly rare and valuable with no other examples for sale worldwide. We find a later 1672 printing at $3,000, but our 1st edition offerings here seem to not have been available at auction in the last century from any records we have been able to locate

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