Rare two-volume book: The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vols. I and II, by Charles Stedman. First edition. London: printed for the author and sold by J. Murray, et al, 1794. Hardcover bound in half calf with marbled boards, 9 x 11.25, 848 pages plus 15 engraved plates. The desirable maps and plans depict: the Battle of Bunker Hill; Battle of Long Island; Fort Washington; Battle of White Plains; Camp at Saratoga; Attack of Fort Clinton; Fayette's Position, Barren Hill Church; Siege of Savannah; Siege of Charleston; Battle of Camden; British Troops crossing the Catawba; Battle at Guilford Court House; Battle at Hobkirk's Hill; English and French Fleets; and Siege of York and Gloucester. Book condition: VG-/None, with rubbing and light soiling to boards, bumped corners, wear to spines, some foxing to textblock, and foxing, toning, and offsetting to several plates, as well as tears to a few of the plates; the bookplate of Joel Davis Madden, Jr., is affixed inside each volume.
Bibliographer Joseph Sabin described this important work: 'Stedman's history is generally considered the best contemporary account of the Revolution written from the British side. Stedman entered the army, served as an officer under Lord Percy at Lexington in 1775, and subsequently with Lord Howe in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and with Lord Cornwallis in the South.' It is a fundamental early work on the history of the Revolution, and its plates constitute the finest collection of plans assembled by an eyewitness.
Joel Davis Madden, Jr., left Princeton University in 1905 and moved west to make his fortune in the railroad industry. He went on to become an executive with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and died suddenly in 1928 at the age of 41. His book collection, offered by his granddaughter, has not been publicly offered or privately sold in a century.
