Smyth, George W.

An Address Delivered to the Mississippi Hibernian Society on St. Patrick’s Day, 1827 [cover title].

Natchez [MS]: Printed at the Ariel Office, 1827. 8vo. (1), 7 pp. Original printed wrappers, the front wrapper bordered with a Greek key-meander; some spine erosion, owner’s name (a Smyth) on the front cover, but a very good copy housed in a custom cloth clamshell box. Unrecorded 1827 Natchez Imprint.
First edition. Preceding the address are printed the letter from society president, Walter Irvine, requesting a copy of it so “that 150 copies should be printed, at the expense of the society, for distribution among its members”, and Smyth’s response. In his Mississippi, as a Province, Territory, and State (pp. 470-471), Claiborne listed George W. Smyth among the members of the old Mississippi Supreme Court, that of its early statehood, and noted that he “was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, of a family of distinction in Ireland. He rose rapidly at the bar in Natchez, and was on the threshold of a distinguished career when he died.” (Neither Lynch’s Bench and Bar of Mississippi nor Rowland’s Courts, Judges, and Lawyers of Mississippi lists him.) The speech characterizes the society as primarily benevolent and the Irish experience there as one of acceptance and freedom. Rare; unrecorded by the NUC, OCLC, RLIN, American Imprints, Sabin, McMurtrie, and Owen. Item #47474

Price: $3,750.00