Rare book concerning the southern campaigns of the American Revolution by one of its key British participants: A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Provinces of North America, by Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton. First edition. London: printed for T. Cadell, 1787. Hardcover bound in one-quarter green morocco with blue marbled boards, 9.5 x 11.5, 518 pages. The book is highlighted by its five hand-colored map plates: a large map of the United States showing the marches of Cornwallis, by William Faden, royal geographer to King George III; a plan of the siege of Charleston; a plan of the battle near Camden; a plan of the battle of Guilford; and a plan of the siege of Yorktown. Book condition: G+/None, with the front board entirely detached, wear to corners and edges, tattered edges to title page, some foxing and toning to the large map of the country, and the bookplate of Joel Davis Madden, Jr., affixed to front pastedown.
This is considered to be the standard work on the Southern campaigns in the American Revolution, noted by Church as of 'great value, especially because it contains many documents that cannot be found elsewhere without great labor.' Tarleton's narrative is one of the principal British accounts of the Revolution, and is especially prized for its highly detailed engraved maps.
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.
