The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles - photo 1
The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles - photo 2
The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles - photo 3
The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles - photo 4

The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles

Lot 8
25.05.2022 17:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 504 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 752798
Lot 8 | The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles
Estimate value
$ 300 000 – 500 000
The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer IslesJohn Smith, 1624SMITH, John (1580-1631). The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the Adventurers, Planters, and Governours from their first beginning An° 1584 to this present 1624. London: printed by I.D.[awson] and I.H.[avilland] for Michael Sparkes, 1624. First edition, first issue of Smith’s masterpiece, “the foundation of England’s knowledge of America during the early period of colonization,” in a contemporary binding with dedication portrait of the Duchess of Richmond printed on silk (PMM). This work contains Smith's eye-witness account of the founding of Jamestown, his capture and rescue through the intercession of Matoaka (also known as Pocahontas), his observations during his time spent in Virginia (1606-1609), and his explorations of the New England coast (1610-1617). The Generall Historie is a major American primary source, incorporating much of Smith’s earlier writings as well as almost every other account of Virginia then in circulation—albeit heavily edited and redacted by himself—alongside accounts of New England and Bermuda and relevant private letters relating to the English colonies. The last copy in a contemporary binding to appear at auction was the rebacked Laird Park copy over 20 years ago.“Recounting his exploits among Virginia’s Algonquians, Smith boldly created his own personal history. He reinforced the words of his story with illustrations derived from de Bry, into which he inserted himself. Since the pictures were intended less to inform his readers about Algonquian life than to make his own story dramatic and believable, Smith may have used de Bry’s images because his readers would have been comfortably familiar with them. They had become symbols of America that could be manipulated independently of the reality that they purported to represent. At the same time, the ‘Indians’ they depicted became increasingly abstract concepts whose meaning for European readers lay not in their specific culture but in their role as foils for European adventurers” (Creating America). In crafting his own self-promoting literary legend, Smith also created an enduring work of American myth. As Margaret Stillwell notes, his works from this period are of interest not just for “their historical content but for their style. They mark the beginning of English-American literature and this, it must be remembered, was born under the influence of, and contemporary with, the writings of Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, and Milton. The Elizabethan knack of writing pungent English is evident in the writings of Captain John Smith.” The story he tells is an almost cinematic one of swashbuckling adventure, adorned with verses by friends and contemporaries. The book was printed by two printers, to each of whom Smith gave half the text in order to speed the printing process. Their miscalculations of text length created a break in pagination—there are no pages 97-104. There is only one printing of the text, although Smith continually updated the title-page of the work to keep it current and to reflect the death of James I and the accession of Charles I, whose portrait appears on this title. The present copy is the first issue title page, dated 1624, and the text in early impression, with “thir” for “their” in the last line of p. 90, and “degression” for “digression” in the shoulder note on p. 119. The maps are in various states, as in nearly all copies of this edition, itemized in the physical description below. According to the exhaustive prospectus of this work printed in 1623, Smith originally intended to include only three maps, but needed monetary assistance to realize this. It is likely the dedicatee, Duchess Frances of Richmond and Lennox, provided the necessary funds, ultimately enabling the addition of a fourth map. Some copies of this first edition are found with an engraved portrait of her by Willem van de Passe, or one of Matoaka. According to Arber, neither of these portraits were included with the original edition, but where present, were added later by bibliophiles; this is suggested by the fact that many extant copies of both portraits are 18th or 19th century copies. The portrait of Duchess Frances present here is the first issue described by Hind (as opposed to the later "deceptive copy" he identifies as bound with the Grenville copy of this work), printed on silk and mounted to the front pastedown frontispiece—the only such impression on silk recorded. This copy without the errata sometimes found pasted to foot of final page. A fine copy of an iconic American text in an early English binding, with an apparently unique printing of the portrait on silk. Burden North America 164, 187, 212, 213; Church 402; Creating America 82; Pictured to the Life 27; PMM 124; Sabin 82824; STC 22790; ; Arthur Hind, Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century. The Reign of James I, II.293.12 (the portrait). See also Everett H. Emerson, “Captain John Smith as Editor: The Generall Historie” in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 75.2 (April 1967), pp. 143-156; Edward Arber, editor, Travels and works of Captain John Smith, President of Virginia, and Admiral of New England (1910); and Margaret Stillwell, Incunabula and Americana (1931), pp. 92-96.Folio (286 x 181mm). Engraved dedication portrait printed on silk and mounted to front pastedown; first issue title page with Charles as "princeps" engraved by John Barra; and 4 folding engraved maps, comprising: Virginia with 5 large vignettes, Burden’s 3rd state, 288 x 374mm sheet size; Virginia by William Hole, Burden’s 10th state, 349 x 415mm sheet size; Bermuda surrounded by views of buildings, Sabin’s 1st state, 290 x 365mm sheet size; New England, Burden’s 4th state, 310 x 360mm sheet size (about 5 leaves with old repaired closed tears at bottom edge, some just encroaching on text; some soiling to gathering y; frontispiece portrait with a few tiny holes and light wear). Contemporary English calf ruled in blind (upper joint started). Custom case.
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