A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs Johnson, Containing An Account of Her Suffering during Four Years with the Indians

First edition. 144pp. 12mo. First edition of this popular captivity narrative which was reprinted in Scotland, England, and America through the first half of the 19th century. Mrs. Johnson was captured with her family in 1754 by Abanaki Indians and taken to Canada. Along the way she gave birth to a daughter whom she named Captive. Well treated by the Indians during their journey, the prisoners were divided among several Indian families and eventually sold to the French in Montreal. After three years Mrs. Johnson was exchanged and sent to England before returning to New York and then New England. "This particular narrative has the distinction of two simultaneous stories, that of Susannah Johnson in the Indian camp and that of her husband as he endeavored to ransom his family, first from the Indians and then from the French. Mrs. Johnson experienced much worse conditions in prison in Quebec than with her Indian captors, contracting smallpox from one of the prisoners. Eventually the family was renited, only to lose Mr. Johnson in the battle of Ticonderoga, 1758" (Siebert) According to a note printed on the verso of the titlepage, "part of the text was dictated by Mrs. Johnson, now Mrs. Hastings, herself, and part were taken from minutes made by Mr. Johnson and herself, during their imprisonment. She is much indebted to her fellow prisoner, Mr. Labaree, by whose assistance many incidents are mentioned, which had escaped her attention." The first edition is very rare, with only three other examples in the auction records in the last thirty years, including the Siebert copy, sold for $4025 and purchased by the William Reese Company on behalf of a private collector. Ayer 117; Howes J153; ESTC W13745; Evans 30180 & 30641; Sabin 35324; Siebert 442; Vail 1074 Early calf over binding crudely stitched over the original boards. Foxing and browning, signatures D-F sprung, significant tears to signature F with loss to F3 and F4.…