Pease 1837 Account of Texas Revolution with early Republic Map

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AUTHOR: John M. Niles and L. T. Pease

TITLE: History of South America and Mexico; comprising their discovery, geography, politics, commerce and revolutions . to which is annexed, a geographical and historical view of Texas, with a detailed account of the Texian Revolution and War.

PUBLICATION DATA: 1838. Huntington. Variant of the 1837 edition.

In 1825, John Milton Niles published the first edition of his history of South America and the new nation of Mexico. In 1837, he revised it because there was yet another new nation in the area - the Republic of Texas. Assisting him in compiling the information on the Texian Revolution and the new nation was L. T. Pease, father of independence proponent and future governor Elisha M. Pease.

In addition to Pease's contemporary input on the Revolution, the book reproduces the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Burleson's report on the taking of Bexar in December 1835, the Travis letter, and the report of Benjamin H. Holland, Capt. of the 2d Company of Artillery, on the Goliad Massacre.

Lastly, the book contains two fine maps. One is a hand-colored map of South America. The other, aptly titled "Mexico & Texas," depicts Mexico, with Texas shown as a separate nation, hand-colored boldly in traditional mapmaker's pink. This copy is a peculiar variant - it bears a date of 1838 on the title page, but the contents are consistent with the 1837 edition and the map is the 1837 first state map (does not depict Houston, Lynchburg, Rio Grande City etc.) I've seen one other copy similarly assembled, so I presume that the printer had some first state maps and text blocks to use up when the 1838 edition was ready to roll out. Essentially, it has 1837 guts with an 1838 title page.

Steel engraved frontispiece of the Battle of San Jacinto is done very much in the Napoleonic style. Engraved inset on the title page of the Alamo Battle is done in the same style. Other engravings include one of Sam Houston and another of Santa Anna.

Condition report:

Original blind embossed calf binding with gilt embellished spine. Covers show some surface abrasions. Spine shows wear with some small areas of leather loss visible at gutters. Previous owner's pencil inscription. Light foxing throughout. What appears to be a small library sticker to rear pastedown but no other library markings are present. Pencil math computations to rear endpaper and pastedown. Binding is sound. Texas map shows one short edge tear with no paper loss. South America map shows one short tear where the map meets the binding. Each shows some age toning.

Why It Matters:

This volume contains an early account of the Revolution and many of our foundational documents, a scant year or two into the Republic's lifespan. The map is an out of this world rarity.

Also interesting is the original owner of this book. Charles Adolphus Clark of Halifax County, Virginia owned a large plantation in Clarkton. A respiratory ailment from his childhood sent him to points south and the West Indies each summer. It's possible he was considering Texas or even visited Texas as a summer retreat. During one of his summers in Florida, Clark heard abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher give a speech. When Clark returned to Virginia, he decided to build six brick tenant homes on his 5,000 acres to allow his slaves to live as sharecroppers instead. His family thought he was insane, but Clark foresaw what was down the road - the Civil War - and stuck to his guns. He died in 1859 and his wife continued to run the plantation with the sharecropping system in place. Many buildings from the plantation are still standing today, including the stately home. This copy of the book made it from Clark's estate to the library of a collector in Mexico City, and now it will live the rest of its days in Texas.