The first edition of one of the greatest histories of the American Revolution. Charles Stedman (1753-1812) was born in Philadelphia and educated in law at William and Mary College but served as a Loyalist throughout the war on the British side. He served as an officer with Lord Percy at Lexington and Concord, under General Howe in the campaigns of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He finished the war serving with Lord Cornwallis in the South. He was taken prisoner on two occasions and even sentenced to be hanged as a rebel. Both times he managed to escape, one of these held Major André. He was also wounded badly twice. This first-hand knowledge of the War makes the work stand out as being one of its finest histories. This is enhanced by the presence of several folding detailed plans of major battles. These include Bunker Hill, New York, the sieges of Charleston and Savannah, the final battle of Yorktown and others. It is ‘generally considered the best contemporary account of the Revolution written from the British side’ (Sabin). On his return to England he was employed to examine the claims of loyalists in America and settle them. Provenance: bookplate of Matthew Lewis Esq. (1750-1812), pasted inside front cover, Lewis was a chief clerk and deputy secretary at the War Office, he also owned a slave plantation in Jamaica; bookplate ‘Panshanger’ which was the country estate of the Earls of Cowper; the library was dispersed in 1953; Burden collection since 1980. Howes S914; JCB II:372; Lowndes V, p. 2504; Sabin no. 91057.