(Washington, George) | First French edition of George Washington’s French and Indian War journal

(Washington, George)

Jacob Nicolas Moreau. Mémoire contenant le précis des faits, avec leurs pièces justificatives, Pour servir de Réponse aux Observations envoyées par les Ministres d'Angleterre dans les Cours de l'Europe. Paris: De l’Imprimerie Royale, 1756

4to (245 x 190 mm). The "pièces justificatives" set in double columns; a clean, bright copy. Contemporary mottled calf, decorative handcolored grapevine patterned endpapers, the spine in six compartments gilt-tooled with marguerites, light tan lettering-piece, edges stained red; a few old scratches to boards, upper outer corner of lower board skillfully repaired.

Rare quarto first edition, and first French publication of Washington's Ohio Journal. "One of the most important documents in American colonial history" (Wroth, American Bookshelf, p. 22). This work by historian Jacob Moreau details the French position on the war on the Ohio in response to the increasing presence of British American traders and settlers. In late May 1754, Virginia troops led by George Washington skirmished with French forces under Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville, in the Ohio Country, which culminated in a British victory: ten French soldiers were killed and 21 captured, including the wounded Jumonville. He was killed while in captivity by Washington's Indian ally, Half King, who was a representative of the Iroquois Confederacy, which risked losing its dominion over other Indian peoples in the Ohio River if the French were able to assert their control.

The French later retaliated by surrounding Washington at Fort Necessity, forcing his surrender. They seized Washington's journal, Braddock's letter of instruction, and Braddock's letters to the British ministry, which were employed by Moreau to substantiate their claim that Washington had murdered Jumonville. Washington's journal suggests that Jumonville had set out on a peaceful mission to deliver a message to the British. Washington suspected Jumonville was sent as a spy, and at the urging of Half King, the leader of a band of Mingos allied to the British, ambushed Jumonville's party in a small valley near what is now Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

The Mémoire also maintains the contention of French rights to the region west of the Alleghenies. Numerous duodecimo reprints were soon issued and appear with relative frequency at auction, but only one copy of the quarto edition has been sold at auction since 1975.

PROVENANCE

Starhemberg Family Library, Schloss Erferding, Austria (stamp on flyleaf)

REFERENCE

Howes M787; Sabin 47511; Streeter sale 2:1013 Struggle for North America 36; Wroth, American Bookshelf, pp. 22, 40