AUTHOR: Bancroft, Edward (1744-1821)
TITLE-PAGE TRANSCRIPTION: AN |
ESSAY | ON THE | NATURAL HISTORY
| OF | GUIANA, | In SOUTH
AMERICA. | CONTAINING | A
Description of many Curious PRODUCTIONS | in the
ANIMAL and VEGETABLE SYSTEMS | of
that Country. | Together with an Account of | The RELIGION,
MANNERS, and CUSTOMS | of several Tribes of its
Indian Inhabitants. | Interspersed with | Variety of Literary and Medical
OBSERVATIONS. | In SEVERAL LETTERS
| FROM | A GENTLEMAN of the
MEDICAL FACULTY, | During his Residence in that Country.
| [rule 78 mm.] | - Ad res pulcherrimas ex tenebris ad lucem erutas
alieno | labore deducimur. | SENECA, De brevitate
vitae, cap. xiv. | [double rule 75 mm.] | LONDON,
| Printed for T. BECKET and P. A. DE
HONDT | in the Strand. MDCCLXIV.
COLLATION: 22 x 14 cm. 8º:
p2 B-2C8 2D2
[$4 signed] pp. [4], [i]-iv, [1]-402, [2]
CONTENTS: p. [i]. Title page. p. [iii]. Dedication.
p. [i]. Advertisement. p. 1. Text.
BINDING: Brown leather half binding, brown cloth
boards.
NOTES: Dedication signed: Edward Bancroft.
“A very curious and entertaining work, particularly in view of the
depiction in the frontispiece of a two-headed snake caught near Lake Champlain,
a full continent away from the major concern of the text (however, Bancroft
does treat the snake in a footnote.) The author was a Massachusetts native
who, after his stay in Guiana, moved to England, was elected to the Royal
Society, and became friends with Franklin and Priestly. The majority of
the book is devoted to the botany and natural history of Guiana. Rich
calls this work ‘very useful,’ while Field suggests that though
‘of some merit,’ it was clearly by someone removed from recent
immediate knowledge of the region. He does praise the third chapter, and
the information on the use of Wourali.” — William Reese, catalogue
163
“Bancroft settled in Guiana in 1763 after running away to sea from
Westfield, Massachusetts. In 1769 he removed to England where he composed
this Essay. Later, he became friends with Benjamin Franklin and
Joseph Priestly and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. ‘When
the breach with the American colonies became complete, Bancroft seems
to have acted as a spy in London for Franklin... In 1777 he was suspected
of complicity in the attempt to burn Portsmouth dockyard, but he escaped
to France.’ (DNB)” — Rulon-Miller Books, catalogue
123
REFERENCES: Sabin, Joseph. A Dictionary of Books
Relating to America… (New York, 1868-1936), no. 3106; Field,
Thomas W. An Essay Towards an Indian Bibliography… (New Haven:
Reese Co., 1991), no. 70; Rich I, pp. 169-70.
PROVENANCE: G[uaners?] Withers.
KEYWORDS: 1. Natural history--Surinam.
LOCATION: QH125.B2 1769
OTHER CALIFORNIA LOCATIONS: UC Santa Barbara;
UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
|
|