Peirce, Ebenezer W., Indian History, Biography and Genealogy: Pertaining to the Good Sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoad Tribe and His Descendants; with an Appendix ~ North Abington, Massachusetts, 1878, published by Zerviah Gould Mitchell; 261 (+xv) pages, with eleven full-page line-engravings.

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The publisher, Zerviah Gould Mitchell (Mrs. Thomas C. Mitchell), was a native American. Her Preface to the book begins: "My object in bringing this work before the public is not only to show that I am a lineal descendant, in the seventh generation, from the great and good Massasoit [King Philip] whom both the red and white man now venerate and honor but also to make record of the wrongs which during all these generations have been endured by my race..."

According to Spirit of the New England Tribes by William Scranton Simmons: Mrs. Mitchell was one of the last of her lineage to reside on a tiny reservation in Lakeville Massachusetts where she and her daughter continued the aborginal tradition of straw basket-making. Pierce, a celebrated Civil War veteran and General in the United States Army, "accepted the task of being her assistant" in composing this historical record of the southern New England tribes and the reign of Massasoit (who is known as King Philip).

Our 1878 first edition has a mid-20th century guarded-binding of green cloth with gilt spine-lettering, complete and in very good condition, all plates present. Original front leaves (torn & stained, w/period ownership marks) have been bound in as provenance. Frontispieces and title page have small edge-tears and light staining; the book has about two dozen turned corners and occasional tobacco-ash ~ else an exceptionally well-preserved copy.

Very scarce documentation of the native American recollection and point-of-view.

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