Washington, George, First President

The Journal of Major George Washington, sent by the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq: his Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor, and Commander in Chief of Virginia, to the Commandant of the French Forces on Ohio. To which are added, the Governor's Letter: and a Translation of the French Officer's Answer. With A New Map of the Country as far as the Mississippi. Williamsburgh Printed, London, Reprinted for T. Jefferys, the Corner of St. Martin's Lane, 1754

8vo in half-sheets (8 1/4 x 7 5/8 in.; 222 x 143 mm). Engraved folding frontispiece map partially handcolored in outline, woodcut and typographic headpieces, one typographic factototum; map lightly offset and with three pinholes at intersecting folds, some dust-soiling at margins, short closed tear to lower margin of title-page, three tiny holes on final leaf costing bits of four letters. Stitched as issued. Brown morocco portfolio paneled gilt, lettered gilt on upper cover and spine.

Laird U. Park, Jr. (sale, Sotheby's New York, 29 November 2000, Lot 369)

Brown, Early Maps of the Ohio Valley 19; Church 999; Clark 1:323(1); Howes W134; Sabin 101710; Schwartz, French and Indian War, chapter 2, "George Washington's Mission"; Streeter 3:1713; Vail, Old Frontier 472; see also Fred Anderson, ed., George Washington Remembers: Reflections on the French and Indian War (2004)

8vo in half-sheets (8 1/4 x 7 5/8 in.; 222 x 143 mm). Engraved folding frontispiece map partially handcolored in outline, woodcut and typographic headpieces, one typographic factototum; map lightly offset and with three pinholes at intersecting folds, some dust-soiling at margins, short closed tear to lower margin of title-page, three tiny holes on final leaf costing bits of four letters. Stitched as issued. Brown morocco portfolio paneled gilt, lettered gilt on upper cover and spine
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First English edition, and first edition with a map of Washington's Journal, one of the opening salvos of the French and Indian War. Washington was at the time a young major in the British service, and his plainly written intelligence report covers the period from 31 October 1753 to 16 January 1754, recording his councils with the French forces on the Ohio and his contacts with the Indian peoples west of the Alleghenies. Washington undertook the mission by order of Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia. Appended to Washington's journal entries are Dinwiddie's letter to Legardeur de St. Pierre, commandant of the French troops at Fort Le Boeuf, demanding the withdrawal of his troops, as well as a translation of St. Pierre's reply, refusing to retire and referring the question to the Marquis Duquesne.

The Journal of Major George Washington was first published in Williamsburg, Virginia, earlier the same year as this London edition, but the American printing did not include the "Map of the Western parts of the Colony of Virginia." The map in this copy is the "Senekas" issue. An extraordinarily scarce survival in original condition.