pierre du simitiere

Description du livre: London: published by R. Wilkinson and J. Debrett, 1783. Quarto. (9 1/4 x 7 inches). Letterpress title (verso blank), 1p. 'Advertisement' (verso blank). 12 stipple-engraved portraits on heavy paper, each plate numbered in ink at the upper outer corner by a single early hand. Recent calf- backed marbled boards, red leather lettering-piece to spine, early marbled pastedowns and free endpapers. Du Simitiere's rare and important series of portraits of American Revolutionary leaders. Du Simitiere was a native of Switzerland who emigrated to America in 1766. He was an ardent supporter of the Revolution and was among the first to collect material on the history of the war. He furthered his collection by producing a series of portraits of American leaders. Thirteen of these were published in Paris in 1781 and were also issued separately. English language editions of the Paris series were issued in London in 1783, the subject of much bibliographical confusion. The sequence would seem to be that the French series of thirteen was re-engraved and issued by the publisher W. Richardson on May 10, 1783 under the title, Thirteen portraits of american legislators, patriots, and soldiers. Benedict Arnold was still included as a patriot in this issue, as he had not defected at the time Du Simitiere sent the originals to Paris. The present title, issued by the publishers Wilkinson and Debrett, is not a reissue of the Richardson edition, but an entirely new edition, the plates with Wilkinson's imprint dated May 15, 1783. This series of portraits appears in a different order than that in the Richardson edition, and excludes Arnold, reducing the number to twelve. The portraits are of Washington, Henry Laurens, John Jay, Samuel Huntington, Charles Thomson, W.H. Drayton, Silas Deane, Joseph Reed, Gouverneur Morris, Baron Steuben, John Dickinson, and Horatio Gates. The caption of the Washington portrait has been corrected in ink in this copy, and the Drayton and Dickinson captions have been corrected with paper overslips. Wilkinson and Debrett evidently reissued this series at a later time and with a new title, Heads of Illustrious Americans., without a date. None of the standard bibliographies name this edition by title, and OCLC locates a total of only eight copies. c.f. Sabin 21446; c.f. Howes D599 (incorrectly citing three series of engravings with sixty plates). N° de réf. du libraire 25089