Colonial AmericaPhilip Freneau Poet of the American Revolution" Poems

1795, Book titled: "Poems Written Between the Years 1768 & 1794" by Philip Freneau, printed at the author’s press at "Mount Pleasant, near Middletown Point [NJ]," New Edition, Fine.
Though the title page gives the title of this book as "Poems Written Between the Years 1768 & 1794," the half title page and the header of each page reads: "Poems On Several Occasions." This thick, 8.25" x 5" book has 456 pages, and contains hundreds of Freneau’s poems, apparently arranged chronologically (in the order he wrote them), including all of his most famous works, his poems on the Revolutionary War, his political satire, poems about Columbus, a few poems on the French Revolution, and poems on some unusual subjects, such as "Tobacco" and "The Theological Scrip Monger or Speculating Parson" about a minister who speculates in paper money. One of his most famous works, "The British Prison Ship," recounts his imprisonment during the Revolutionary War. That and other poems about Cornwallis, John Paul Jones, Gen. Gage, Benedict Arnold, George Washington and other Revolutionary War figures are all here. The pages are tightly bound, lightly browned with age, with some foxing here and there, and otherwise in good condition. The original polished hard covers are present, the spine has been professionally rebacked and relabeled in gold letters (probably long ago), and the hinges are intact. There are names, dates and other graffiti on the flyleaves, though the pages themselves are clean, with no damage noted. Overall this book is in great shape. Sabin #25898; Evans #28712.

Philip Morin Freneau (1752–1832), known as the "Poet of the American Revolution," was one of the earliest American poets and journalists. After the outbreak of the revolution he began to write anti-British satire. But not until his return from two years in the Caribbean, during which he wrote such poems as "The Beauties of Santa Cruz" and "The House of Night," did he become an active participant in the war. During the American Revolution he served as soldier and privateer. He was captured and imprisoned by the British, an experience he bitterly recounted in the poem "The British Prison-Ship." He was a powerful propagandist and satirist for the American Revolution and for Jeffersonian democracy. Freneau edited various papers, including the partisan "National Gazette" (Philadelphia, 1791–93) for Jefferson. His political and satirical poems have value mainly for historians, but his place as the earliest important American lyric poet is secured by such poems as "The Wild Honeysuckle," "The Indian Burying Ground," and "Eutaw Springs.""