History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, and the War of the North American Tribes Against the English Colonies After the Conquest of Canada.**Signed by Author Francis Parkman **

Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1855 [1863] Hard cover, 8vo, (6 x 9 1/2 inches) in brown pebbled cloth with blind stamped decoration, titles to spine in gilt, (xxiv), 632 pp., Third American Edition, with copyright of 1851, title page date of 1855. The 1863 edition is surmised from two details: the signature in old ink by Author Francis Parkman, dated Nov. 16, 1863 on the ffep., as well as the four-page Publisher's Catalogue (dated March 1859) bound in at the front. Sabin lists the 1863 edition; Blanck, Wolff and OCLC do not. Contains two fold-out maps at p. xxiv and 187, as well as two additional full page maps at p. 187 and 512. The work is indexed, and has a number of original documentary source appendices. The continued addition, over the years, of new original sources, taken from diaries, government papers and other sources collected here and abroad, is the basis of the re-release of this work into at least six editions. [Washington journalist Ben: Perley Poore is mentioned in the Acknowledgments as one of his researchers among the French and British archives; we have other books for sale with his provenance local to this bookseller.] Condition: Very Good Minus. Exterior boards show some discoloration. Edges dusty. Minor scuffing to foot of spine, two corners very lightly bumped. Moderately age toned, with minor foxing to some preliminary pages. **The Author, Boston-born Francis Parkman Jr. (1823-1893) retained excitement for his topic despite going virtually blind during the preparation of this manuscript. He is considered among the first tier of early American historians, foregoing a legal career for a lifetime commitment to study and write about "the people of American forest." The Introduction describes his time spent traveling and living among the various tribes he describes. Other titles produced by him include "The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life "(1846) and "France and England in North America" (1865 -1892).**The first owner of this book was Boston lawyer and civic leader, George Silsbee Hale (1825-1897). Hale was a Harvard graduate, lawyer and served in various civic roles in Boston in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He was President of the Common Council of the City of Boston from 1863-64, an Overseer of the Poor. He was also a Trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Trustee and Vice-President of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. Hale inscribed the book to its second owner, the Presbyterian minister, Rev. George Duffield (V) in 1864. Duffield, the fifth generation of his name, was an enthusiastic abolitionist in Philadelphia, descended from George Duffield I, chaplain to the Continental Congress, and and known for preaching from the pulpit in support of the American Revolution.** This work is considered a classic of early American and Canadian history. It is obviously written with a huge passion for the subject, and features in-depth descriptions of the ethnography, geographical politics and cultural practices of the Indigenous people discussed. A lengthy review of the first edition is found in the North Atlantic Review, 1851, Vol. LXXIII, No. 153. Sabin 58803. The first edition (1851) appears in the catalogue of American books in the British Museum (Stevens, p. 412.). Signed by Author, AND inscriptions from George Silsbee Hale of Boston, and the Rev. Geo. Duffield [V] of Philadelphia. Third American Edition [1863]. Hard Cover. Very Good Minus.