FAMOUS PIONEER WORK ON KENTUCKY

AUTHOR:

FILSON, JOHN

TITLE:

Histoire De Kentucke Nouvelle Colonie a l’Ouest de la Virginie... A Paris, chez Buisson, Libraire... M.DCC.LXXXV [with folding map] Carte de Kentucke..., 1785.

CONDITION:

8vo. Original calf, hinges worn. Folding map measures 13 1/2” x 12 1/8”. Excellent condition throughout.

DATE:

1785

DESCRIPTION:

First French edition, containing the earliest obtainable edition of Filson’s famous map of Kentucky. The rare American edition of Filson’s history was published the previous year, but only a handful of copies of the book contained the map, which was the first to give an accurate delineation of Kentucky.

Filson was a pioneer who acquired land in Kentucky in 1783. His history is considered one of the most intriguing documents on the American frontier ever written. Vail calls it “the most famous and important frontier book of the period... particularly important for its first map of Kentucky and its first published life of Daniel Boone.” Boone’s numerous adventures, captures, escapes, and astonishing acts of courage and fortitude are chronicled for the first time in vivid detail. W.R. Jillson, in the introduction to his 1929 reprint, says that Filson “has left to posterity a priceless tale of early days in Kentucky, which, for stirring action and regional description, has rarely been equalled as a piece of frontier writing in any part of the country, and never surpassed.”

REFERENCES:

Inventory No. 13329