Kaaterskill Books

[Wise, John].

[Manuscript Copy] A Narrative of the Expedition sent by the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in the Year 1690, against Canada; with the Causes of its Failure to take Quebec. By the Rev. John Wise, Minister of God's Word at Chebucto, and one of the Chaplains in the Expedition.... Transcribed from the original manuscript by [Francis...L. H?].

[1865?]. 50 pp. on 25 bifolium, rectos only + 2 sheets: title page and note. 6.5 x 8.5 inches. Not bound. Moderate soiling, damp stains, some tearing along edges, corrections inked in throughout. Item #44048

19th c. transcription of a contemporaneous narrative of Sir William Phips's expedition against Quebec in the summer of 1690 in the hope of driving the French from Canada. It would not be published until 1901.

The transcriber's note reads: "Engaged at intervals for thirty years or more, as opportunity and means permitted, in collecting all that could be obtained either in printed tracts or manuscripts that might serve to illustrate the early history of the American Continental; it so happened that the transcriber came into the possession, several years ago, of the manuscript which he has here copied. As far as he can discover, it has never been printed, and as the original is old, in some parts not very legible & withal liable to decay, he determined to do what he could for its preservation by making a fair and verbatim transcript of it...."

The transcriber's name and initials have been inked out but may be Francis L. Hendrickson (F.L.H.) and perhaps dated 1865.

The manuscript next appeared in France according to Samuel Green, via Wilberforce Ames, when it was acquired by the Lenox Library about 1893 with a second manuscript concerning the same subject. Green reported on it and had it published in the Nov. 1901 issue of the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society where argued it was was written for Increase Mather. It was published in book form a year later. It now resides at the New York Public Library, MssCol 4136.

Provenance: Manuscript collector Milton S. Slater (perhaps from Kenneth Nebenzahl with his partial envelope addressed to Slater).

Price: $1,500.00