9
Guthrie’s geography.
2. v.
4
to.
1815 Catalogue, page 117, no. 232, as above.
GUTHRIE,
William.
A New System of Modern Geography: or, A Geographical, Historical, and Commercial Grammar; and present State of the Several
Nations of the World. Containing, I. The Figures, Motions, and Distances of the Planets . . . II. A general View of the Earth
. . . III. The grand Divisions of the Globe . . . IV. The Situation and Extent of Empires, Kingdoms, States, Provinces, and
Colonies. V. Their Climates, Air, Soil, Vegetables, Productions, Metals, Minerals, natural Curiosities, Seas, Rivers, Bays
Promontories, and Lakes. VI. The Birds and Beasts peculiar to each Country. VII. Observations on the Changes that have been
any where observed upon the Face of Nature since the most early Periods of History. VIII. The History and Origin of Nations
. . . IX. The Genius, Manners, Customs, and Habits of the People. X. Their Language, Learning, Arts, Sciences, Manufactures,
and Commerce. XI. The chief Cities, Structures, Ruins, and artificial Places from Philadelphia. To which are added, I. A Geographical
Index, with the names and places alphabetically arranged. II. A Table of the Coins of all Nations, and their Value in Dollars
and Cents. III. A Chronological Table of remarkable Events, from the Creation to the Present Time. IV. The late Discoveries
of Herschell, and other astronomers. By William Guthrie, Esq. The Astronomical Parts Corrected by Dr. Rittenhouse. In
Two Volumes. Volume I [-II]. The
First American Edition, corrected, improved, and greatly Enlarged.
Philadelphia: Printed by
Mathew Carey,
Feb. 1,
m. dcc. xciv
; Vol. II printed [by
R. Folwell] for
Mathew Carey,
April 27,
m. dcc. xcv.
[1794-95.]
G114 .G9 1794
2 vol. 4to. 286 and 376 leaves, 2 engraved plates by Joseph T. Scott, folded tables, list of subscribers’ names at the end, followed by directions to the binder; printer’s imprint at the end
of the Index. According to the directions to the binder there should be 47 maps; these were issued separately by
Carey in 1795, and are seldom found bound with the work.
Sabin 29327.
Evans 27077.
The original edition of this work was published in London in 1770. In this American edition the name of Guthrie is retained
on the title-page, but the book was so entirely rewritten that little of Guthrie’s original text remains. The rewriting is
explained in the preface, probably written by Mathew Carey, dated from Philadelphia, February 5, 1794, and begins with the
title-page. In the American edition the word
Philadelphia in section XII, quoted above, is substituted for the original reading
London, and in section II of the next paragraph,
Dollars and cents are substituted for
English Money. Many of the articles are almost completely rewritten, especially the chapter on Ireland. The American section in this edition
is the work of Jedidiah Morse. In his account of Virginia, the editor states at the beginning: “In the following description of this state, free use has
been made of mr. Jefferson’s celebrated ‘
Notes on Virginia
.’” Jefferson’s name is several times mentioned in the text as the source of information.
Jefferson’s name is not in the list of subscribers, which includes those of George Washington, Mrs. Washington, Benjamin Rush,
Caspar Wistar, Edmund Randolph, Tench Coxe, and many of the friends and the correspondents of Jefferson.
An edition of 1785 of Guthrie’s geographical grammar,
