: esteemed a standard authority in the early history of Virginia. Although his style is inelegant and diffuse, and his minuteness of detail is sometimes unnecessarily extended, his scrupulous adherence to the facts as related by the authors whom he cites, and his unquestioned probity, have established the truthfulness of his work. Stith was indebted to the narratives of Captain John Smith and other early residents of the Colony for the incidents connected with its settlement; and while giving full credit to the author of the "Generall Historie," - "for I take him," says Stith, "to have been a very honest man and a lover of truth," he does not fail to recognize the prejudicies which seem to have influenced and distorted his account of the affairs of the Colony. A copy of the Records of the Virginia Company for a period of five years (1619-1624) was made by direction of the Earl of Southampton, and purchased after his death by Colonel Byrd, which was used by the author in the preparation of his History. This copy is said to have come into the possession of Congress with the papers of Jefferson, and is supposed to be now in the law library at Washington. Among other documents which came into the hands of Stith were also many state papers, collected originally by Sir John Randolph. * The narrative of Stith, while it records the events which occurred in Virginia during the early years of the Colony, contains also the history of the opposition to the Company in England, which, with the internal dissensions of the Council, contributed, no less than the hardships experienced by the colonists, to the failure of the enterprise. An important and valuable part of the work is found in the Appendix of original documents, embracing the three Virginia charters, the first of April 10, 1606, to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and others; the second, to the Treasurer and Company for Virginia, or the London Company, bearing date May 23, 1609; and the third, to the same incorporators, dated March 12, 1611-12; together with the charter from the Company, of July 24, 1621, establishing a Council of State and General Assembly in the Colony. The execution of the work in the reprint is creditable both to the editor and printer, and we are confident that their labor will be appreciated alike by the bibliophile and the historical student. Field, CATALOGUE (1875), Nos. 2278 and 2279, gives the title-pages of the Williamsburg edition, 1747, and of the Stith reprint of 1865, but contains no technical comment. Menzies, CATALOGUE (1875), No. 1916, contains the following; after giving the title line-for-line: "The valuable original documents from which this history was compiled have recently been destroyed by fire. The Appendix contains a collection of charters relating to the period comprised in the volume. Besides the copious materials of Stith, the author derived assistance from the manuscripts of his uncle, Sir John Randolph, and from the records of the London Company, put into his hands by Col. William Byrd, President of the Council. Notwithstanding the recent efforts of American bibliographers, the bibliography of this subject remains in as much doubt and obscurity as ever. We briefly remark, that, there are two varieties of the first edition, one on coarse, the other on fine paper, except signature X which is more or less poor in both. Then we have another Williamsburg edition of the same date, but differing in several particulars. Lastly comes the London edition of 1753, which is precisely like the second Williamsburg issue. It is not at all unlikely that the socalled London edition is the second Williamsburg one with an English titlepage. Brinley CATALOGUE (1880), 2, No. 3796, in commenting upon the Williamsburg edition of 1747, says: "In the title-pages, both of the History and of the Appendix, the word "Virginia" is in Italic capitals, and the letters are absolutely identical, even in their defects, with those in which the same word appears in the title of Mercer's Abridgment of the Laws, printed by W. Parks, 1737; and the same typographical ornaments, made up in the same fashion, for page-heads and initial letters, occur in these two volumes. But the collation does not agree with that of either of the two editions described by Mr. Sabin. The error in page number 104 (misprinted 410, in his copy) is corrected: sig. S is correctly paged, 257-272, and so on to the end of sig. U, p. 304; but sig. X (on inferior and yellowish paper) is mispaged, 295-310, and the error runs on through sigs. Y and Z, to the end on recto Z, mispaged 331 (for 341), as in the "edition" of 1753; moreover, this copy has "signature marks on pages 21 and 119"; the "line across the page, over the foot-note" on page 308, is omitted; and the capital J, on page i of the Appendix is in Italic, -as in "the London edition," though this page of the Appendix is in the title-form, and on the sixth leaf of sig. Z, the type and ornaments of which unmistakably mark it as from Park's press. Sig. Aa (pp. 5-12) and sigs. Ce and Dd (pp. 21--34) of the Appendix are on the same yellowish paper as sig. X: and the lines across the pages, over the foot-notes, are omitted on pp. 21 and 27, but retained elsewhere. Winsor's NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA (1884), III, 165 (including foot-note), contains the following bibliographical mention of this history:"Forty years after Beverley, the early history of the colony was again told, but only down to 1624, by the Rev. William Stith, the rector of Henrico Parish; being, however, at the time of his death (1755), the president of William and Mary College. He seems to have been discouraged from continuing his narrative because the "generous and public-spirited" gentlemen of Virginia were unwilling to pay the increased cost of putting into his Appendix the early documents which give a chief value to his book to-day. He had the use of the Collingwood transcript of the records of the Virginia Company. His book, History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia was published at Williamsburg in 1747, and there are variations in copies to puzzle the bibliographer.* Stith's diffuseness and lack of literary skill have not prevented his becoming a high authority with later writers, notwithstanding that he implicitly trusts and even praises the honesty of Smith. *Some claim to be printed in London in 1753; the copy in Harvard College Library is of this 1753 imprint; see Hist. Mag., I, 59 and II, 61 (where it is asserted that only the title is of new make), and the bibliographical note which Sabin added to his reprint of Stith in 1865, where he describes three varieties. There is a collation in the Brinley Catalogue, No. 3796, not agreeing with either; of Hist. Mag., II, 184, and North American Review, October, 1866, p. 605. Hilbeburn, CHARLEMAGNE TOWER COLLECTION (1890), p. 294, No. 76, gives only a line-for-line title of the volume and of the Appendix, and the following comment: "Collation: Title, 1 leaf; Preface, pp. iii-viii; text, pp. 1-331; Appendix, Title, 1 leaf; Preface, iii-v; 1 p. blank; text, pp. 1-34. Brown's ENGLISH POLITICS IN EARLY VIRGINIA HISTORY (1901), makes quite elaborate bibliographic-historical mention, in Chapter VI (p. 124), entitled Stith's "History of Virginia," 1747: "The press finally circumvented (so to speak) the opposition of the crown by worming its way into Virginia via Maryland. As early as 1727 William Parks had established a printing press at Annapolis, where he printed for the governments of Maryland and Virginia. He set up a printing press at Williamsburg, probably in 1729, and finally removed to that city to reside in 1736. He was the first legally employed printer in Virginia. "Stith's History of Virginia," which was issued from his press in 1747, was the first historical book published in Virginia, and related entirely to the formative period of 1606-1624. The Rev. William Stith was far better equipped with evidences on which to base his history than any previous Virginia historian had ever been; but owing to the long-continued purpose of the crown to obliterate the truth, he was very far from being fully equipped, even if he had taken the proper political view, and even if the press of the colony had not been virtually under the control of the royal government. It is very remarkable that in compiling his history, although he evidently had access to the leading libraries in Virginia, he did not have the use of a single one of the contemporary prints published by the managers of the movement, the history of which he proposed to write, and it was not possible for him to understand the case properly without them. His chief published authorities were the histories of Smith and Purchas, which had previously been for so long the only authorities available to historians. He had none of the national official records in the premises; of Spain, France or the Netherlands, and but few of those of England, and he could not have understood the movement correctly without them. But some of the corporation records, or rather copies of them, the originals having been confiscated by the Crown in 1624,-were now being brought to light, and he had a good many of these relative to events after 1618; but only a few of the records prior to that date, and it was not possible for him to write his history completely without them. He knew that several documents issued by the Virginia courts had been sent over by Sir George Yeardley, but he had the use of only one of them; and seems to have been under the mistaken idea that the "great charter" and the commission of 1618 for establishing the General Assembly in Virginia had not been issued until after the changes in the presiding officials of the corporation in 1619. He had, however, in manuscript complete copies of the following really important documents: The Royal Charter of April 20, 1606. The King's Instructions of Nov. 30, 1606. The Orders of the King's Council, Dec. 20, 1606. The Advice of the King's Council, Dec. 20, 1606. The King's Ordinance and Constitution, March 19, 1607. The First Charter to the Body Politic, June 2, 1609. The Second Charter to the Body Politic, March 22, 1612. The Instructions of the Virginia Court to Yeardley, November, 1618. The Instructions of the Virginia Court to Wyatt, August, 1621. The Ordinance and Constitution of the Body Politic, 1621. The copies which had been preserved in Virginia of the papers sent to England from the General Assembly of March, 1624, by Pountis in 1624, namely: A. Their Answer to Johnson's Declaration. B. Their Answer to Butler's Unmasking. C. Their Petition to James I. D. Their Letter to the Privy Council; enclosing, F. Their Answer to Harvey's Propositions; and, G. The Laws, Orders, etc., passed by them during the session of February and March, 1624. "And last, but not least," -The copies of the Acts of the General Courts of the Company ("The Seminary of Sedition") in London, from the Quarter Court of May 8, 1619, to that of June 17, 1624. Next to the charters of 1609 and 1612, the copies of the records of the Virginia courts were the most important documents used by Stith. They covered the period from May, 1619, to June, 1624, but contain many references to prior dates, and Stith's history of events from 1618 to 1624 is largely based on them. As Stith did not have a proper understanding of the case, he misunderstood the records in several particulars. The popular form of government had been instituted in Virginia during the administration of Sir Thomas Smith. The parties in the Company during the period covered by these records had originated in disputes over business matters, and not over political rights; but it came to pass that Sir Thomas Smith's party, in order to accomplish their business objects, catering to the national Court party, were finally willing to surrender their popular charter rights to the crown." Evans' AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHY (1903-1910) contains two entries bearing upon the volume under consideration, one upon the editions of 1747 and the other upon those of 1753, as follows: Vol. 2 (1904), No. 6071, "STITH WILLIAM THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AND DISCOVERY OF VIRGINIA, BEING AN ESSAY TOWARDS A GENERAL HISTORY OF THIS COLONY * * [One line from] Virg. Williamsburg, Printed by William Parks M, DCC, XLVII, pp. viii, 331; v, 34. 8 vo. Second Title, An Appendix to the first part of the History of Virginia, containing a Collection of such ancient charters or letters patent, as relate to that period of time, and are still extant in our publick offices in the capitol, or in other authentic papers and records. Williamsburg, Printed by W. Parks, M, DCC,XLVII, p. v, 34. There are two editions bearing the date of this year. The first edition may be known by the poor quality of the paper;* and by pages 257 to 303 being mis *Note that Cole, below, designates the edition on the poorer quality of paper as (2), while it is here stated that "the first edition may be known by the poor quality of the paper." numbered 247 to 293.† This error was corrected in the second Williamsburg edition, which was not printed until about the year 1753, the date of the London edition. These two editions are identical with no other change than the titlepages, and were both evidently printed at Williamsburg. The copies met with are printed on different qualities of paper, the signature with the wrong paging differing materially in quality both in the American editions and the supposed London edition. Henry Stevens notes as many as five varieties being known to him. The copy sold at the sale of the Brinley collection was evidently a mixed copy. Reprinted in New York in 1865." Vol. 3 (1905), No. 7125, "STITH, WILLIAM OF VIRGINIA * * * printed, London Re-printed for S. Birt in Ave-Mary-Lane, M,DCC, LIII, pp. viii, 331; v, 34. 8 vo. Second Title, AN APPENDIX TO THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. CONTAINING A COLLECTION OF SUCH ANCIENT CHARTERS OR LETTERS PATENT, AS RELATE TO THAT PERIOD OF TIME, AND ARE STILL EXTANT IN OUR PUBLICK OFFICES IN THE CAPITOL, OR IN OTHER AUTHENTIC PAPERS OR RECORDS. Virginia, Printed. London, Reprinted for S. Birt in Ave-Mary-Lane, M, DCC, LIII, pp. v, 34. This imprint is given place from the fact that no doubt can exist, after a comparison of editions, that the body of this work is the first impression, before the error in paging was corrected in the Williamsburg edition of 1747, with a change of title-page, probably printed in England, only. The peculiarities of paper and paging are the same as noted in the American printed edition of 1747." Cole's-A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS RELATING TO * AMERICA (1907), Vol. * * IV, No. 963, contains the following concerning the volume under consideration: "STITH, WILLIAM (b. 1689, d. 1755). THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA, WILLIAMSBURG, William Parks, 1747. 8vo. First Edition. Collation by Signatures: A 4 leaves; B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, X, Y, Z, each 8 leaves; Aa to Dd, each 4 leaves (the last blank and genuine); total 196 numbered leaves. Leaves C3, 14, L3, and L4 have no signature-marks. Collation by Pagination: [title as reproduced*; See No. 963], p. [i]; [blank], p. [ii];-THE PREFACE [dated] Varina, Dec. 10, 1746, pp. iii-viii;-[text, with heading] THE HISTORY of VIRGINIA, pp. 1-331; [blank), p. [332] [Title-page] AN APPENDIX TO THE First Part of the HISTORY of VIRGINIA: containing A Collection of such Ancient Charters or Letters Patent, as relate to that Period of Time, and are still extant in our publick Offices in the †The present writer has found, in the editions designated as (i), (iii) and (v) in table "A" of the Preface, that pages 257 to 341 are misnumbered 247 to 331; while in (ii) pages 305 to 341 are misnumbered 295 to 331; nor has he seen the error in pagination, here noted, in any of the texts examined. Cole contains a fac-simile reproduction, |