Hubbard, William

The Present State of New-England, Being a Narrative of the troubles with the Indians. London: Printed for Thomas Parkhurst, 1677



4to (7 5/8 x 5 3/4 in.; 194 x 148 mm.); lacking map which is supplied in heliotype facsimile but torn in pieces, browned with some marginal foxing. Contemporary calf; worn, nearly loose.



With his:



A Narrative of the Indian Wars in New-England. Stockbridge, Massachusetts: Heman Willard, May 1803.



8vo; somewhat browned. Contemporary leather; worn, upper cover loose.

1677: Vail 185; Howes H756; Streeter Sale II, 641; 1830: Sabin 65324 note

First English edition of the most important narrative of King Philip's War along with a later American edition.

The war between the British colonists and the allied tribes of the Wampanoag, Nipmuck and Narragansett Indians, known popularly as " King Philip's War" after the colonists' name for Metacom, chief Sachem of the Wampanoag, was the almost inevitable consequence of the encroachment of the British settlements upon the lands and ways of the native population. Prior to 1675, only one serious outbreak of warfare between Indians and colonists had taken place, the 1637 war with the Pequot tribe. With that exception, the sometimes uneasy peace had been maintained; however, with the colonists' increasing demand for land and the pressures of the attempts to convert the Indians from their own religion and way of life, a point of volatility was reached. When three Indians were executed for murder by the British authorities, the situation exploded. Between June of 1675 and August of the following year, open warfare existed in the New England colonies, with the Indians taking heavy tolls on the border settlements.

Also offered in the lot is the anonymous The Present State of New-England with Respect to the Indian War, an antiquarian edition published in about 300 copies Boston: Josiah Drake, 1833, contemporary quarter leather; joints cracked. This is the first of the King Philip's War tracts, originally published in 1675.