Philadelphia: Printed by Zachariah Poulson, Jun. No. 30, Fourth-Street, Near the College, 1791.
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Softcover. First edition. Octavo. pp. [1-4] 5-28, with an added letterpress presentation leaf sewn-in at the front, Signed and dated in ink by the author (“7 d[ay] VII month” 1791). Stitched, in the original plain paper wrappers, untrimmed. Illustrated with an in-text engraving on page three. Signed by James Moon on the wrapper, presentation leaf, and blank verso of page three. Old stain to the wrappers, 2" vertical tear on the spine, with some loss of paper at the gutter, not affecting the text, else very good.
A very scarce Presentation Copy Signed by the German mapmaker and mystic William De Brahm. In 1754 he was appointed by the British Surveyor General for the colony of Georgia. He went on to become a prolific cartographer throughout the Southern Colonies in the late 18th Century, and also worked as an engineer. He drew up the plans for the New Bermuda settlement in Florida, and his contact with the Overhill Cherokee and other Native Americans led him to view European colonialism as a sin that would ultimately bring destruction to the world.
By the 1780s he settled in Philadelphia and wrote on cosmography and the end of time, inspired by the German mystic Jacob Boehme and the Quakers, and where he met James Moon, a prominent Philadelphia Quaker who played a leading role in the Quaker campaign against slavery in the 18th Century. *OCLC* locates eight copies, plus one copy in the Library of Thomas Jefferson, none that appear to have a presentation leaf. *Evans* 23319; *ESTC* W29549.
Item #427262
