An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana

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[8]+iv+402+[2 ad] pages with frontispiece. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 1/4") bound in contemporary calf with six raised spine bands and gilt ruled edges to covers. (Field 70; Sabin 3106) First edition. Edward Bancroft was a Massachusetts-born physician and chemist who became a double agent, spying for both the United States and Great Britain while serving as secretary to the American Commission in Paris during the American Revolution. On July 14, 1763, after fleeing his apprenticeship, Bancroft left New England for the sugar-producing slave colonies of Dutch Guiana, where he became a plantation doctor. He soon expanded his practice to multiple plantations and wrote a study of the local environment. Based on observations of experiments already being performed on live eels by Dutch colonists in and around Surinam and Essequibo, Bancroft concluded that American eels and torpedo fish discharged electricity to stun their prey, rather than by imperceptibly swift mechanical action, as had previously been argued. Although he left South America in 1766, he published An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, in South America in London 1769, where with the encouragement of Benjamin Franklin, he embarked on a career as a man of letters. The especial subject of the author's inquiries regarding the Indians, is the nature and use of the Wourali Poison, with which their weapons are charged. Condition: Moderate wear, hinges cracked with front cover detached, minor foxing, minimal damp-staining, early owner's signature on title page, later owner's bookplate on front pastedown else a good copy, internally very good. N° de ref. del artículo CA0259

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