[Philip Mazzei]. RECHERCHES HISTORIQUES ET POLITIQUES SUR LES ÉTATS-UNIS DE L'AMÉRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE. 4 parts in 3 vols. Colle et se trouve a Paris: Chez Froullé, 1788. Speckled calf, red morocco labels with gilt and raised bands on spine. 8vo; [4], xvi, 383, [1errata]; [4], 259; [4], 292; [4], 366pp. Each with half title, title, table, and ornaments. Text in French. Sabin 47206.

8 x 5 3/8 in. each.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Philip Mazzei (Italian, 1730-1816) was a doctor and wine merchant, and an ardent supporter of independence and equality. After moving to the colonies in 1773, Thomas Jefferson gave him land near Monticello. Hoping to grow grapes and continue his career as a wine merchant, Mazzei purchased more land and established his farm, Colle. While in Virginia, he became politically involved; he worked for the State of Virginia and championed Jefferson's ideals. After he returned to Europe, Mazzei's experiences and connections helped him write about the colonies and the Revolution in his celebrated four volume history of the United States. According to Wright Howes, Thomas Jefferson "may have assisted in this work" (Howes 456). He was celebrated as a "Patriot Remembered" in a USPS stamp in 1980.

Boards scuffed, edgewear, small leather losses, spines creased and with occasional wormhole; volume with parts 2 and 3 with cracking at joints and hinges, headband loose; interiors lightly toned, scattered foxing, occasional small stain and wormhole/trail; several pages with edge losses not impacting text, part 4 with manuscript on rear paste-down and partial separation of final blank. An overall good set of this early history of the American Colonies and their fight for independence, and the first in French.