“THE SOURCES OF NATIONAL WEALTH, AND THE PRODUCTIVE POWERS OF MAN… ARE DEVELOPED HERE ON A GIGANTIC SCALE”

WARDEN, David B. A Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States of North America; from the Period of Their First Colonization to the Present Day. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable et al., 1819. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter tan calf, raised bands, later black morocco spine labels. $2500.

First edition of this comprehensive study of the United States, with a large folding map of the United States highlighted in color and a folding plan of the city of Washington and the “Territory of Columbia,” in contemporary calf.

"After the preliminary general account, each state is taken up separately, with a brief list of works relating to it at the end of the several chapters. These are followed by chapters on the population, public lands and agriculture, manufactures, commerce, canals and roads, government, finance, education, religion, a summary of the political and military history of the country since 1800, and an account of the Indians" (Sabin 101366). Born in Ireland in 1772, David Bailie Warden joined United Irishmen in 1798 as an officer; when the uprising against the British failed, Warden was placed on a prison ship and offered his choice of banishment or execution. Choosing banishment, he emigrated to the United States in 1799. He would later serves as American consul in Paris from 1808 to 1811, and briefly as consul general in 1813. "Warden conceived a consul to be a cultural agent, and from 1814 until his death [in 1845], without the aid of his adopted country, he unofficially acted as such an agent" (Warden papers, Maryland Historical Society). In addition to the present work, he authored the notable On the Origin, Nature, Progress and Influence of Consular Establishments (1813) and A Chorographical and Statisical Description of the District of Columbia (1816). First issue, with Volume I colophon dated 1818. Published in an American edition in the same year. Sabin 101366. Howes W99.

Light foxing, expert paper repair to plan of Washington. Light rubbing to contemporary bindings. A near-fine copy. Scarce.