The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter…Soldier in the American Revolution

Providence, R.I.: Printed by Henry Trumbull, 1824. First Edition. Engraved frontispiece. [1]-108pp. 1 vols. 12mo. Contemporary sheep-backed marbled paper covered boards, worn. Foxing. First Edition. Engraved frontispiece. [1]-108pp. 1 vols. 12mo. Israel Potter fought at Bunker Hill, became a seaman on an American blockading vessel, was captured and taken to Britain. He escaped, joined in the circle of rebel agents, and saw involvement in many subsequent major events. He lived in England for forty-eight years, working as a chair-mender, until finally returning to his home country in 1824, where he allegedly dictated this narrative to Henry Trumbull, Jr. The frontispiece shows Potter walking with a chair frame, crying, "Old chairs to mend." Howes calls this work "a purported autobiography, of dubious authenticity." Appleton's Cyclopaedia states that these memoirs "were sold by peddlers, and finally were entirely lost until a tattered copy fell into the hands of Herman Melville." Melville produced his own rendition of Potter's life, based on Trumbull's work and published in 1855.

This is the first edition, of three printed in 1824, and as such is scarce. Howes T371