Bigland, John; Morse, Jedidiah. A Geographical and Historical View of the World: Volume V - America; Exhibiting a complete delineation of the Natural and Artificial Features of each Country; and a succinct Narrative of the Origin of the Different Nations, their Political Revolutions, and Progress in Arts, Sciences, Literature, Commerce, &c. The whole comprising all that is Important in the Geography of the Globe, and the History of Mankind. With Notes, correcting and improving the part which relates to the American Continent and Islands, by Jedidiah Morse, D.D., A.A.S., S.H.S. Boston: Thomas B. Wait and Co., Sold by them, and by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia, and Samuel Pleasants, Richmond, 1811. First American Edition. [7888]
Single volume in full sheep with red & gilt title label, gilt rules & "Vol. 5" to spine, binding very good with light scuffing, small white ink or paint drip on back board. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, 538 clean pp. including the index to the series, 2 pp. publisher's cagtalogue, tight. Very good. Full leather.
Signed by Dudley Chase (1771-1846), b. Cornish, New Hampshire; d. Randolph Center, Vermont. Chase was U.S. Senator from Vermont, 1813-1817 & 1825-1831. A graduate of Dartmouth College, a lawyer, he also served in the Vermont House of Representatives and as State's Attorney of Orange County, Vt., and as Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.
Shaw & Shoemaker 22393. One of five volumes.
This volume also contains America, pp. 293-514, with the United States as pp. 308-378, the last chapter being "Louisiana, now ceded by Spain to the United States." This section, written by Bigland with many annotations by Jedidiah Morse, contains an the history of the United States as it stood in 1811, after the American Revolution and before the War of 1812. There were only 15 states and Florida still belonged to Spain. James Madison was President of the United States. Besides describing the geography and the various states, Morse gives descriptions of the principal cities, including Washington, "the new metropolis of the Anglo-American empire," Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Charleston. It has a history, with the most pages given to the American Revolution.
The rest of America consists of treatments of British America; "Aboriginal America, or Unconquered Countries"; Spanish Dominions of North America; Spanish Dominions of South America; Portuguese America, or the Country of Brazil; Batavian Possessions, South America; and Aboriginal Tribes and Unconquered Countries of South America.
The forepart of the book treats with India, Persia, Africa, and Egypt.
John Bigland (1750-1832), English historian & author. He was a village schoolmaster until the age of fifty, when he published his first book, after which he devoted himself to historical researches and writing. "His long scholastic life has given to the majority of his books a distinctly practical turn." - DNB.
Jedidah Morse (1761-1826), orthodox Congregational clergyman of Connecticut, founded The Panoplist (1805), a periodical to combat the growing Unitarianism. He was interested in missionary work among the Indians, his visits to various tribes resulting in the important Report to the Secretary of War on Indian Affairs (1822). He was conservative in politics as in religion, and to oppose the influence of French republicanism founded a Federalist periodical, The Mercury and New England Palladium (1801). His Geography Made Easy (1784) was the first geography published in the U.S., and, along with his later works in this field, won him the title "father of American geography." With Elijah Parish he wrote A Compendious History of New England (1804), which brought accusations of plagiarism from Hannah Adams. He was also the author of Annals of the American Revolution (1824). He was the father of Samuel F.B. Morse. - from the Oxford Companion to American Literature, 1995.