Description
The History of Kentucky by Humphrey Marshall, published in 1812, one of the first published histories of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Octavo, [5], [1], [2pp index], 407pp. Modern polished calf, title stamped in gilt over red morocco label, decorative bands. Includes the original endpapers, with new endpapers behind. General toning throughout, occasional foxing. Conservative archival repair to closed tear along top edge of title page. Lacking the rare plate of Indians attacking settlers, as is typical. Title page notes “Volume I,” but Volume II was never issued.
(Sabin 44780) (Howes M313) (Coleman 3244) (Jillson, p. 47) (McMurtrie, 435)
A scarce work, one of three known copies at public auction in the last 60 years. Only one of these copies contained the engraved plate.
From Coleman: “Next to Filson’s Kentucke, this is the rarest and most sought Kentucky history. Marshall’s is the first systematic history of the state and is the basis of the subsequent works on the early period. Later revised and republished in two volumes in Frankfort in 1824.” (Coleman, 3245)
From Howes: ” [a] most valuable early Kentucky history, with the fullest treatment of border wars and massacres.”
Humphrey Marshall (1760-1841) was a Kentucky lawyer, soldier, and politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky between 1795 and 1801. A cousin of Chief Justice John Marshall, he fought in the American Revolutionary War and later became a prominent Federalist voice in Kentucky, often clashing with the dominant Jeffersonian Republicans. His sharp political disputes with Henry Clay culminated in a duel between the two men on January 19, 1809, near Lexington, Kentucky; both were wounded but survived.
