Epistles

In-8°, veau blond glacé, dos à nerfs orné et doré, double filet doré en encadrement des plats frappés au centre des armes du 1^er Earl Cawdor, roulette dorée aux coupes et intérieure.
Reliure signée Clarke & Bedford. XVI, 303 pp. 

220 x 135 mm.

Washington, George (1732-1799). Epistles domestic, confidential and official from General Washington. Written about the commence­ment of the American contest, when he entered on the command of the army of the United States. With an interesting series of his letters, particularly to the British admirals, Arbuthnot and Digby; to General Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis, Sir Guy Carleton, Marquis de la Fayette, &c. &c. To Benjamin Harrison, Esq., speaker of the House of delegates in Virginia, to Admiral the Count de Grasse, General Sullivan, respecting an attack of New- York ; including many applications and ad-dresses presented to him with his answers: orders and instructions, on important occasions, to his aids de camp, &c. &c. &c. None of which have been printed in the two volumes published a few months ago by Washington, George, 1732-1799; Randolph, John, 1727 or 8-1784; Vardill, John, 1749-1811; Pre-1801 Imprint Collection (Library of Congress) DLC; Joseph Meredith Toner Collection (Library of Congress) DLC.
New York, G. Robinson andj. Bull, London, F. and C. Rivington, 1796.

Première édition anglaise des Epistles de George Washington, mêlant correspondance authentique (1778-1783) et lettres apocryphes destinées à le discréditer. Intéressant témoignage de l'une des plus célèbres tentatives de manipulation politique de la guerre d'Indépendance et de la fin de sa présidence. Washington lui-même les dénonça publiquement.
Howes W133. Sabin 101743. Evans 30392. Allibone 2596. ESTC T130678. See Sabin 101742.

Charmante reliure signée aux armes de John Frederick Campbell, 1^st Earl Cawdor (1790-1 860).

First English edition, preceded the same year by the first edition, of a collection of Washington's letters that contains six infamous forgeries issued in a 1776 London pamphlet to discredit him, and leading this otherwise authentic collection in an attempt to tarnish his legacy. Washington ignored or never knew of the London pamphlet, but repudiated the forgeries on publication of Epistles, charging "he had never seen or heard of them until they appeared in print".

Washington's Epistles is a fascinating record of "the most famous attempt to discredit Washington during the Revolutionary War" and a further attempt to discredit him toward the end of his presidency.           For this work contains seven forgeries (4-66)—letters to Mrs. Washington, Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. Custis—which had appeared in 1776 when a London bookseller issued them in a small pamphlet. "The letters portrayed Washington as disgusted with the Continental Congress, disheartened with the war effort and eager for reconciliation with England... Although the spurious letters were not taken seriously during the war, an attempt to use them to injure Washington's political réputation was made near the end of his presidency when thé letters were reprinted, along with many genuine ones, by Benjamin Franklin Bâche under the title Epistles Domestic, Confidential, and Official... (New York, 1796)." Although the author of the forgeries was never fully known, Washington believed Loyalist journalist James Rivington, publisher of Rivington's Gazette, to be the source. Shortly after publication of Epistles, Washington strongly repudiated the forgeries in a letter to the Secretary of State, asserting "he had never seen or heard of them until they appeared in print" (Evans 30392). The remaining, authentic portion of this collection includes Washington's correspondence from 1778-83, including letters to such dignitaries as the British Admirals Arbuthnot and Digby, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis, Sir Guy Carleton, and to Alexander Hamilton. First edition: with half title; page vii numbered "ii" as issued.