Romans, Bernard

8vo (6 7/8 x 4 1/4 in.; 175 x 108 mm.), 4 pp. (including title), engraved dedication to John Ellis, 342 pp., 6 plates Avena aquatica Sylvestris, Characteristick Chicasan head, Characteristick Chactan Busts (signed B. Romans Fecit), untitled (Choctaw funeral platform - signed B. R. inv et fecit), Characteristick head of a Creek War Chief (signed B. Romans fecit), untitled (Two hieroglyphic paintings - signed B. R. fecit), and one folding table (An Aggregate and Valuation of Exports Produce from the Province of Georgia); very small hole and two small stains on top of title (not affecting text), stain on top margin (from K1 to M3 - not affecting text), light browning (stronger at the end), some pages with light inking. Contemporary sheep; rubbed, small chip at head of spine, hinges fragile.  

Church 1139; Evans 15069; Sabin 72993

A superb, unsophisticated copy of the extremely rare second edition. 

Born in the Netherlands and raised in England, Bernard Romans (ca.1720-ca.1784) came to America in about 1757 as a junior surveyor in the British service, becoming one of the pioneering cartographers of the American southeast. Assigned to duty in Saint Augustine, East Florida, before 1760, Romans soon began to rise through the ranks of the British engineering establishment. In 1766, he was appointed deputy surveyor in Georgia, and in the following year, was made deputy surveyor for the entire Southern District, reporting to the German-born Gerard de Brahm.

Like many military officers in the hinterlands, Romans sought to enrich himself through the acquisition of land and slaves, but he never neglected his surveying duties. He made the first maps of Pensacola Harbor, Tampa Bay, and Mobile Bay, and along with David Tait and George Gauld (who prowled the coastal regions), he was responsible for mapping most of the interior of West Florida between 1770 and 1772.

The second edition consists of the sheets of the first edition with reprinted title-page and introduction; the frontispiece, Lists of Subscribers, Appendix, Errata, Maps, and Final Advertisement are omitted. 

Only two copies of the first edition have appeared on the market since World War II (Ingraham-Brinley-Goelet copy and the George A. Roberts - Siebert - McKinney copy). Since then no copies of the second edition have appeared, with the most recent mention being in a 1938 Rosenbach catalogue.