A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot. With a Review of the History of Maritime Discovery. Illustrated by documents from the Rolls, now first published ... [Bound with:] A Review of Captain Basil Hall's Travel's in North America ... Second edition ... [Bound with:] Remarks on Mr. Tytler’s Historical View of the Progress of Discovery &c., forming the IX. Number of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library ... [Bound with:] Remarks on the Revised Edition of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library
- viii, 333, [1, imprint), plus errata slip; 149, [1, blank], [2, ads] [with a correction in manuscript to p. 30 inserted]; 31, [1
- London: Hurst, Chance & Co, 1833
London: Hurst, Chance & Co, 1833. viii, 333, [1, imprint), plus errata slip; 149, [1, blank], [2, ads] [with a correction in manuscript to p. 30 inserted]; 31, [1, blank]; 15, [1, imprint]pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Nineteenth-century full tan calf, boards ruled in gilt, spine with contrasting lettering pieces, marbled edges, joints cracked with covers detached, marbled endpapers and edges. Minor foxing. Provenance: N. Harris Nicolas (inscription on title of the Memoir that the work was a gift from the author; presentation inscription by Biddle on the Review). viii, 333, [1, imprint), plus errata slip; 149, [1, blank], [2, ads] [with a correction in manuscript to p. 30 inserted]; 31, [1, blank]; 15, [1, imprint]pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Very rare first English edition of Biddle's Memoir of Cabot, a scarce account of the adventures of the famous 15th and 16th-century Italian explorer and a major source and inspiration for subequent interest in Cabot. Biddle stressed the achievements and pre-eminence of Sebastian over his father, John, and also discusses those of Cortereal, Columbus, Verrazano, Frobisher, and Hudson. The first American and first English editions were said to be suppressed.
Richard Biddle (1796-1847), from the distinguished Philadelphia family, trained as a lawyer and worked for a decade in Pittsburgh before travelling to London and beginning his historical researches. He was a pioneer in the study of the early voyages of the Cabots, discovering among the Manuscripts in the Public Record Office, London, the text of Henry VII's second letters patent, and thus distinguished that there were two Cabot voyages, in 1497 and 1498. After returning to the U.S., Biddle was elected to Congress and served in Washington 1838-40 before retiring and getting married.
This volumes collects London editions of several works by Biddle, including the London edition of his Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, and traces his outrage at the unacknowledged appropriation of his researches by P.F. Tytler, in the Historical View of the Progress of Discovery on the More Northern Coasts of America (1832). Biddle's comments took the form of two pamphlets, each very rare. The 1832 Remarks (15 pp.), notes: “Whilst numerous alterations appear, in conformity with the views of the Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, there is not merely an absence of acknowledgement to that work, but the reference to it is in slighting terms, and an effort is made to establish a charge of unfairness. The author of the Memoir … does not feel at liberty to leave unnoticed animadversion from such a quarter.” The 1833 Remarks (31 pp.) notes that in “the New Monthly Review of march or April last, the Editor will be found candidly retracting an opinion into which he had been incautiously betrayed by the confident asseverations of the Revised Edition”.
The Memoir and the Review each bear an autograph note on the title-page by English historian Nicholas Harris Nicolas (1799-1848), recording the gift of these works to him by the author. Evidence in the text of the 1832 Remarks suggests that Nicolas was the English correspondent to whom Biddle addressed the Remarks that were then printed in pamphlet form. [Memoir:] Howes B340 (“Author is said to have ordered both American and English editions destroyed; the infrequent appearance of the American edition would indicate that its publishers obeyed”); Sabin 5248. [Review:] Howes B429; Sabin 5247
Richard Biddle (1796-1847), from the distinguished Philadelphia family, trained as a lawyer and worked for a decade in Pittsburgh before travelling to London and beginning his historical researches. He was a pioneer in the study of the early voyages of the Cabots, discovering among the Manuscripts in the Public Record Office, London, the text of Henry VII's second letters patent, and thus distinguished that there were two Cabot voyages, in 1497 and 1498. After returning to the U.S., Biddle was elected to Congress and served in Washington 1838-40 before retiring and getting married.
This volumes collects London editions of several works by Biddle, including the London edition of his Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, and traces his outrage at the unacknowledged appropriation of his researches by P.F. Tytler, in the Historical View of the Progress of Discovery on the More Northern Coasts of America (1832). Biddle's comments took the form of two pamphlets, each very rare. The 1832 Remarks (15 pp.), notes: “Whilst numerous alterations appear, in conformity with the views of the Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, there is not merely an absence of acknowledgement to that work, but the reference to it is in slighting terms, and an effort is made to establish a charge of unfairness. The author of the Memoir … does not feel at liberty to leave unnoticed animadversion from such a quarter.” The 1833 Remarks (31 pp.) notes that in “the New Monthly Review of march or April last, the Editor will be found candidly retracting an opinion into which he had been incautiously betrayed by the confident asseverations of the Revised Edition”.
The Memoir and the Review each bear an autograph note on the title-page by English historian Nicholas Harris Nicolas (1799-1848), recording the gift of these works to him by the author. Evidence in the text of the 1832 Remarks suggests that Nicolas was the English correspondent to whom Biddle addressed the Remarks that were then printed in pamphlet form. [Memoir:] Howes B340 (“Author is said to have ordered both American and English editions destroyed; the infrequent appearance of the American edition would indicate that its publishers obeyed”); Sabin 5248. [Review:] Howes B429; Sabin 5247