THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THROUGHOUT THE WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THEIR INDEPENDENCE; AND THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES .. by (Washington, George) Ramsay, David - 1807

New York: Printed by Hopkins & Seymour ..., 1807. Small quarto, pp. [i-v] vi-viii [1] 2-376, inserted frontispiece with tissue guard (stipple engraved portrait by William S. Leney of New York after the portrait by Gilbert Stuart), nineteenth-century three-quarter pebbled morocco and marbled boards, spine panel lettered and tooled in gold, top edge gilt, other edges rough trimmed, marbled endpapers. First edition. An early life of George Washington by American physician, politician and historian David Ramsey (1749-1815) who "remained to the end the pious, benevolent, and unwearied public servant" (DAB). According to DAB, Ramsay's laudatory biography of Washington "was a mere political and military narrative, but was very popular." Ramsey was shot and killed by a maniac in 1815. Howes R38. Sabin 67695. Leather rubbed at edges; touch of tanning to title leaf, small stain to upper margin of 2K1, tiny, faint damp stains to upper corner tips of a few pages near the end, but overall a remarkably fresh copy. (#160557)