SHEFFIELD, John Lord [John Baker Holroyd] Observations on the Commerce of the American States. By John Lord Sheffield [GREATLY ENLARGED SECOND DUBLIN EDITION IN A RARE WILLIAM McKENZIE DUBLIN BINDING]

A new edition, much enlarged. With an Appendix, Containing Tables of the Imports and Exports of Great Britain to and from all Parts, from 1700 to 1782. Also, the exports of America, &c. With Remarks on those Tables, on British Navigation, and on the late Proclamations, &c. Dublin: Printed for Luke White, No. 86, Dame-Street, 1785. Second Dublin edition. pp. vi, viii, 397, [2] (folding tables). Bound by William McKenzie in contemporary full walnut tree calf. Covers framed by double gilt fillets; flat spine decorated in gilt with birds and neo-classical tools; title in gilt on maroon morocco letterpiece; cream endpapers. From the library of the Earl of Roden with his armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Later owner’s signature on front endpaper. Some wear to extremities.
A very good copy.
Sabin 32633 (See Goldsmiths’ 12622 & Kress B785)
John Baker Holroyd, First Earl of Sheffield (1735-1821), statesman, was one of the leading authorities of his time on matters relating to commerce and agriculture, and his estate at Sheffield Place was regarded as a model of farming. He befriended Gibbon and became his most intimate friend, and edited his posthumous works. Gibbon said of him: “The sense and spirit of his political writings have decided the public opinion on the great questions of our commercial intercourse with Ireland. He has never cultivated the arts of composition; but his materials are copious and correct, and he leaves on his paper the clear impression of an active and vigorous mind”. In 1781 Holroyd was raised to the Irish peerage as Baron Sheffield of Dunamore in the County of Meath, and two years later as Baron Sheffield of Roscommon. He was president of the Board of Agriculture in 1803, a Privy Councillor and a Lord of the Board of Trade in 1809.
Provenance: From the library of Robert Jocelyn Robert Jocelyn, 2nd Earl of Roden KP, PC (1756 - 1820) Irish peer, soldier and politician. He was styled The Honourable from his birth to 1771, and then Viscount Jocelyn from 1771 to 1797. He was the eldest son of the 1st Earl of Roden and Lady Anne Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil. He was a professional soldier, and the company of dragoons he commanded, nicknamed “the Foxhunters”, gained much notoriety during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. In particular, they played a leading role in the Gibbet Rath massacre at the Curragh of Kildare on 29 May 1798, where 350-500 insurgents, who had surrendered, were killed in cold blood. In defence of Roden it can be said that he acted on the orders of his superior officer, General Duff, and that the action was widely condoned at the time. In September his dragoons played a crucial part in the final defeat of the invading French army at the Battle of Ballinamuck: Lord Roden accepted the surrender of General Humbert.