Beschreibung:

Annals of Philadelphia, being a collection of Memoirs, Anecdotes and Incidents of the City and its Inhabitants from the Days of the Pilgrim Founders.
Philadelphia: E. L. Carey & A. Hart; New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1830. xii, 740; 78 pp., thick 8vo (237 x 135 mm). 25 plates (including 17 lithographed views by W. L. Breton). Contemporary boards, rebacked with cloth. Housed in a cloth clamshell box. Condition : foxing and staining, ink staining affecting terminal signature, restoration at edges of terminal leaves; rebacked and recased, boards stained. Provenance : Joseph Watson, Mayor of Philadelphia 1824-28 (inscription by the author on the front free endpaper, “Respectfully presented by the Author to his friend & patronymick Joseph Watson, Esquire”); Martin P. Snyder. author’s presentation copy to the mayor of philadelphia. The genesis of Watson’s Annals stems from the formation of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In the early 1820s, seeking to document the history of the city as part of the formation of the Society, Watson began amassing oral histories from the city’s older residents. That project would eventually result in this thick volume, illustrated by noted artist W. L. Breton. first edition . Although often reprinted, the first edition has become scarce, particulary in boards. “Watson's interest and enthusiasm continue to benefit modern scholars. Despite his errors of fact and, occasionally, of judgment, his works remain a primary source for study of the colonial period” (Waters). Howes W169; Sabin 102140; Waters, “Philadelphia’s Boswell: John Fanning Watson” in PMHB vol. 98, no. 1. [With:] Group of 49 plates from Watson’s Annals, including proofs and variants. On the proofs and variants, see Snyder, “William L. Breton, Philadelphia Artist” in PMHB, vol. 85, no. 2.