Edward Sullivan Binding The History and Present State of Virginia, in four parts. I. The History of the First Settlement of Virginia, and the Government thereof, to the present Time. II. The Natural Productions and Conveniences of the Country, suited to Trade and Improvement. III. The Native Indians, their Religion, Laws, and Customs, in War and Peace. IV. The present State of the Country, as to the Polity of the Government, and the Improvements of the Land. By a Native and Inhabitant of the Place [Robert Beverley].

London: Printed for R. Parker, 1705. First edition. Small octavo. pp. 6 p.1., 16, [4], 104, 40, 64, 83, [1]. Fine burgundy morocco, lavishly gilt and onlaid by Sir Edward Sullivan (stamp-signed “E.S. Aurifax” at foot of spine), covers framed by lotus flowers, central panels with a riot of leafy branches bearing a total of 30 onlaid blooms in scarlet, burgundy, and sky blue morocco, a scalloped mandorla at center, raised bands, spine compartments densely stippled, with six gilt blossoms around a central mandorla, two of these inlaid in green or burgundy morocco, gilt lettering, turn-ins with repeating floral sprigs, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt (expertly rebacked with original spine and carefully refurbished). In a sturdy matching leather-entry cloth slipcase. With engraved title, 14 copperplate engravings, and a folding table. Frontispiece and final quire mounted on tabs. Front pastedown with engraved bookplates of John Gerard Heckscher, one engraved by Tiffany & Co., 1899. The carefully restored binding very solid and very lustrous. Perhaps washed (see below), but, in any case, the leaves and engravings as fresh and rich as one could hope for.

AN ESPECIALLY FINE AND DESIRABLE COPY

Sabin 5112; Howes B-410; Church 821; ESTC T71491.
The First Edition of the First History Pertaining to British North America Done by a Native Inhabitant, Finely Bound by Sir Edward Sullivan This is the first printing of the first published history of a British North American colony to be written by a native inhabitant, offered here in an ornate binding by an eccentric, imaginative, and accomplished amateur binder. Born in Middlesex, Virginia, and educated in England, Robert Beverley (1667/8-1722) followed in his father’s footsteps to become Clerk of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1696, saving many of the body’s records from a fire that destroyed the statehouse in 1698. Having been sent to England on legal business for the colony, Beverley used his time at sea and in London to write the present work. DNB calls this “one of the most outspoken books of Americanism before the War of Independence,” which “satirized the ‘Rapacious and Arbitrary’ English governors and objected to the ‘heavy Impositions’ put upon the American colonies by the English. Throughout his study Beverley celebrated Virginia’s history and laws, featuring stories of early Virginia-among them the Lost Colony, Pocahontas saving Captain John Smith, Virginia’s settlement by cavaliers, and the laziness of theordinary southerner-which became standard features of American history.” Beverley had relied to some extent on earlier accounts, notably that of Captain Smith, but DNB notes that “he often gave even the borrowed material his own interpretation.” In the opinion of Church, “Beverley’s style is easy, unsophisticated, and pleasing.” The plates here depict the Native American people of Virginia in their traditional costumes as well as documenting their abodes, their fishing technique, their canoe-making, and a ritual dance. The engravings are the work of French-born engraver and printmaker Simon Gribelin (1662-1733), a popular illustrator who also produced engraved reproductions of paintings.
Sir Edward Sullivan (1852-1928) was a prominent Irish bibliophile who wrote on bookbinding and whose hero was Doves Press and Doves Bindery founder T. J. Cobden- Sanderson. Bookbinding was an avocation for Sullivan, who considered himself a finisher, decorating books forwarded to him after being bound in leather by another hand. Gold tooling was his specialty, and he often signed bindings with “Aurifex,” the Latin word for “worker in gold,” in a prominent place (here at foot of spine). His distinctive style is readily recognizable, in part because of his self-imposed restriction on the number of tools employed, an adherence to Cobden Sanderson’s philosophy that a binder who used gold tooling should work with a limited number of decorations. Flowers and foliage were a favourite motif, and his blooms and leaves rampage delightfully across the boards here. After graduating with honours from Trinity College Dublin, Sullivan practiced law and ran unsuccessfully for political office before deciding, in the early 1890s, to devote himself to literature and the Arts & Crafts Movement, of which he was a leader in Ireland. The interior of this volume is almost preternaturally fine-we have never seen an early 18th century book with fresher text, and experience tells us it must have been washed. At the same time, we see none of the usual signs of that operation (graying of the ink, unnatural crispness to the paper), with the ink and paper here seeming to be as fresh and bright as when they were issued. Our copy has a distinguished provenance: a sophisticated sportsman who owned racehorses and liked yachting, John G. Heckscher (1835?-1908) formed a large and valuable library of sporting books that reflected a particular interest in works on fishing, particularly those with engraved plates and watercolors. He owned the four earliest editions of Walton’s “Compleat Angler,” and his copy of the first printing brought $3,900 at auction in 1909, the highest price paid for any book during that auctionyear. As Dickinson says, “he was known as a gentleman and a connoisseur” whose “sporting library was one of his chief ornaments.” This volume was lot #192 in the 1909 sale of Heckscher’s library at Merwin-Clayton of New York, selling for the substantial sum of $105. (ST20747)