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KER. MEMOIRS AND SECRET NEGOTIATIONS. 1726. ----TITLE:. Published by his express Direction. ----PUBLICATION DETAILS" Imprint: London: Printed in the Year. M.DCC.XXVI [i.e., 1726]. By John Ker (1673-1726). No publisher is listed but published by Edmund Curll. vii, [1], 184, [6-page index], 16-page publisher s catalog listed under the name of Edmund s son, H[enry] Curll. Woodcut ornament. This is volume two of a three volume set, focusing primarily on the French possessions in America and the negotiations with Ker, a notorious Scottish spy. ----KER: John Ker (1673-1726) was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. His true name was John Crawfurd. He married Anna, younger daughter of Robert Ker, of Kersland, Ayrshire, whose only son Daniel Ker had died in battle in 1692. John bought the family estates from his wife's elder sister and assumed the name and arms of Ker in 1697. ---CURLL: This work was published by the infamous Edmund Curll (ca. 1675-1747). Although he did not allow his name to appear on the imprint, this volume contains a sixteen-page catalogue of books published by him. Ker and Curll had met in prison where Ker was incarcerated for debt and Curll had been tried for obscene publishing, but the court could not find his actions a crime and sentenced him for libel. ----MAP: Folding engraved map: "A New Map of Louisiana and the River Mississipi." Under title box, "Ker s Memoirs part 2d page 45." This map appears to be a cropped version of Delisle, 1703.This map focuses on the French empire in the heart of North America, covering both the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley. It illustrates the French threat to the British colonies that are confined along the Atlantic seaboard by the Appalachian Mountains. French trading posts, lead mines, trails, and Indian villages are noted, and the Indian nations are prominently named. The Missouri River originates from an unnamed lake in the northwest that disappears off the map, and another Great River flows west from Lack Pani; both suggesting the possibility of a Northwest Passage to the Pacific. ----ANOTHER VERSION OF THE MAP: The identical map (without the reference to Ker s Memoirs) was used in a pamphlet titled, Some considerations on the consequences of the French settling colonies on the Mississippi, with respect to the trade and safety of the English plantations in America and the West-Indies ., by James Smith, Judge Advocate. London: Printed for F. Roberts, 1720. It is attributed to Delisle s 1703 map. (Cumming, 176.) See the image at the Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. ----CONDITION: Contemporary full calf with raised bands on the spine. Book pages are tight and mostly clean. The front hinge is broken but the boards are in very good condition and intact. There is a small stain on the map near the Great Lakes and a tiny tear and minor crumpling at the right margin where the map is bound to the book. Overall, the book is in very good condition. ----BIBLIOGRAPHY:----Cumming, Southeast in Early Maps, entry 176.-----Howes, US Iana, K101, indicating "Volume II largely devoted to French encroachments in the Mississippi Valley, etc." ----Z11-002. Seller Inventory # Z11-002
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