The Letterbook of John Custis IV of Williamsburg, 1717-1742

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2004-09-01. Hardcover. Like New. 8x5x1. Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Minor shelf wear. Owner's name on front end page, else unmarked. xxiii, 271 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. <br> "This absorbing letterbook, meticulously edited and thoroughly annotated, provides remarkable insight into the life and concerns of 18th-century colonial Virginians. We see in these 144 letters, an intimate view of John Custis IV (1678-1749), best known as the father-in-law of Martha Dandridge Custis, the wife of George Washington. Custis, a third-generation Virginian, was a wealthy, influential and shrewd planter-businessman-politician who served for years on the governor's Council. The letters are especially revealing about economic life, the material culture of colonial Virginia, and the treacherous legal and financial conditions in which even important planters operated. The correspondence clearly shows how a wealthy colonial planter uses and could be misused by the British mercantile system." - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers