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French Edition of First Map of Kentucky -- Bound with Filson's History of Kentucky -- "The First History of Kentucky"

Nice example of the French edition of John Filson's important early book and map of Kentucky, published in Paris in 1785.

The French edition, translated by Parraud, contains additions not in first American or English editions. 

Filson's map was first published in Wilmington, Delaware in 1784, and is generally considered the first important map of Kentucky. The French edition, issued in the same year as the Wilimington edition, is very similar to the Wilmington edition and was issued 9 years prior to Stockdale's 1793 London edition of the map, which also include significantly more alterations to the original map.

Kentucky is shown divided into the counties (Comte) of Lafayette, Lincoln and Jefferson and numerous settlements are located and named. The roads between the principal towns are shown by means of dotted lines, plus the following "Path of Cumberland Settlement, The Road from the Old Settlements in Virginia to Kentucky thro' the great Wilderness, Genl. Clark's War Road going, Birds War Road, &c."  

The map is accompanied by two volumes of text related to American life after the Revolution including Crevecoeur’s Lettres d'un Cultivateur Americain (1784 edition, 2 volumes: 422 pp. and 400 pp., no maps) and the French edition of Filson’s Histoire de Kentucke, Nouvelle Colonie a l'Ouest de la Virginie at the end of the second volume (1785 edition, 234 pp.).

The French edition of the Filson book includes a vast array of information on Kentucky, including the discovery, the acquisition, the establishment, and a description of the topography and nature. Also included is some history on Colonel Daniel Boone (helping his notoriety) and the Native Indians in the region.  12mo, hardbound in original red boards with ribbon page marks.

As noted by William Reese:

The first French edition of Filson's pioneering history of the settlements in Kentucky, issued the year after the extremely rare Wilmington, Delaware edition. "The most famous and important frontier book of the period . . . particularly important for the first map of Kentucky and the first published life of Daniel Boone" (Vail), including an account of Boone's captivity. W.R. Jillson, in the introduction to his reprint of Filson, says that Filson "has left to posterity a priceless tale of early days in Kentucky, which, for stirring action and regional description, has rarely been equalled as a piece of frontier writing in any part of the country, and never surpassed." The map was the first to provide an accurate delineation of Kentucky, and this is the first obtainable edition, as the American first is known in only a few copies.

A fine example of the map, with the two books in original 18th Century bindings in nice condition.

John Filson

John Filson was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1747 and served as an Ensign in Montgomery's Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp and was taken prisoner at Fort Washington during Battle of New York in 1776. After the war, Filson worked as a surveyor in Pennsylvania until 1782 or 1783, when he acquired over 13,000 acres of western lands and moved to Kentucky. He settled in Lexington and travelled the region interviewing the settlers and leading citizens, where he wrote The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke (1784). He also had his Map of Kentucke engraved and printed in Philadelphia. The book was almost immediately translated into French and re-published in Paris (1785) and somewhat later a German edition appeared (Leipzig, 1790).

After several years in Kentucky, Filson purchased from Mathias Denman a one third interest in an 800 acre tract at the junction of the Ohio and Licking rivers, the future site of Cincinnati, which he called Losantiville. Filson's survey and plan of the town survives in the layout of modern downtown Cincinnati. General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, later changed the name of Losantiville to Cincinnati in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers founded by George Washington.