Banastre Tarleton - "History of the Campaigns" - T. Cadell, 1787 - First Edition

Description

BANASTRE TARLETON
.  Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833) was the notorious British military leader of General Charles Cornwallis’ cavalry during the American Revolution.  He was infamous for his brutal tactics and hard-hitting attacks which gave him the nicknames “Bloody Ban” and “The Butcher.”  Tarleton arrived in New York in the Spring of 1776 and served in the Campaigns in New York and New Jersey in 1776 and 1777.  He went south to Charleston in 1780 and fought bitterly in the Carolinas.  When American forces attempted to surrender at the Battle of the Waxhaws in May 1780, Tarleton continued his assault symbolizing British cruelty in the war.  He suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781 forcing Cornwallis to pull his troops out of South Carolina and move them farther north.  Tarleton surrendered alongside Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781 putting an end to the war.
FIRST EDITION OF BANASTRE TARELTON’S
A HISTORY OF THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1780 AND 1781, IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA
Tarleton, Banastre.
A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Provinces of North America
.  London: T. Cadell, 1787.  First edition; 13 by 11 inches; 518 pages which include the instruction to binder and errata; five engraved folding maps of the marches of Cornwallis in the Carolinas, Siege of Charleston, Battles of Camden and Guildford, and Siege of Yorktown (outlines and military routes and positions are hand-colored); later rust cloth binding over marbled boards with the title in gilt laid down onto the spine; and in very good condition with minor rubbing to the boards, new endpapers, minor archival repairs to the large folding map along the borders and folds, an ownership signature to the title page, archival repairs to the first and last few pages, minor foxing to some of the pages, one signature misbound and present, and the last sixteen leaves in facsimile, but remarkably fine in quality and choice of paper.
TARLETON’S
HISTORY OF THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1780 AND 1781
IS THE STANDARD RESOURCE ON THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Tarleton’s
History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781
is the standard resource on the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, containing information not found elsewhere.  His narrative is one of the principal British accounts of the Revolution, notable for his compilation of official letters of British officers and American and French commanders and use of original documents.  Tarleton’s work was written in response to a series of letters published in the press in 1786 criticizing Tarleton’s conduct at Cowpens and it largely self-justifies his actions and points the finger of blame at Cornwallis.
“THIS BOOK HAS GREAT VALUE, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT CONTAINS MANY DOCUMENTS THAT CANNOT BE FOUND ELSEWHERE WITHOUT GREAT LABOR” (CHURCH) AND “A CORNERSTONE OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR AMERICAN” (CHRISTIE’S)
According to the American Revolution historian Church and the leading rare books auction house Christie’s,
A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781
, “has great value, especially because it contains many documents that cannot be found elsewhere without great labor,” and is, “a cornerstone of Revolutionary War Americana”.  Two identical copies sold for ,600 at Sotheby’s in November 2000 and ,400 at Christie’s in April 2007.