Beschreibung:

The Particulars of an Indian Treaty at Conestogoe, between His Excellency Sir William Keith Bart. Governor of Pennsylvania, And the Deputies of the Five Nations [caption title].
Philadelphia: Andrew Bradford, [1721]. 8 pp., folio (300 x 195 mm). Wood-engraved initial on the second page. Printed on paper produced at the Rittenhouse Mill, watermarked KR. Disbound, but two sides with deckle edges. Housed in a red morocco-backed clamshell box. Condition : small hole in the lower margin of each leaf filled (barely affecting a few letters), leaves separated. Provenance : Unnamed owner (Christie’s New York, 11 June 1982, lot 329); Frank T. Siebert (Sotheby’s New York, 21 May 1999, lot 515). first edition of the earliest printed pennsylvania treaty with the five nations . Arising from conflicts between tribes north of the Potomac and those south, Pennsylvania Governor Sir William Keith and Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood interceded to promote peace, stability and trade in the region. In July 1721, Keith travelled to Conestoga and arranged for peace among the conflicting tribes, and warned them of the dangers of rum and the French. The text includes a speech by Ghesaont, a Seneca Chief who spoke on behalf of the Five Nations and acknowledged the legitimacy of William Penn’s original purchase. Many details concerning Keith’s trip were covered in Bradford’s newspaper the American Weekly Mercury, and the publication of this treaty was announced there on 27 July 1721. De Puy’s bibliography of English colonial treaties with the Indians cites but two copies: his own (the earliest Indian treaty in his famed collection and now located the Library of Congress) and the Church-Huntington copy. There is an additional copy owned by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The present Siebert copy is the only other known to exist. Church 881; De Puy 7; Evans 2342 (erroneously listed as 1722); Hildeburn 172; Siebert Sale 515 (this copy).