David Cusick's Sketches of ancient history of the Six Nations : comprising--First--A tale of the foundation of the great island; (now North America,) the two infants born, and the creation of the universe. Second--A real account of the early settlers of North America, and their dissentions. Third--Origin of the kingdom of the Five Nations, which was called a Long House; the wars, fierce animals, &...
First edition The edition of 1828 bears on its title page the note, "Second edition of 7,000 copies." The present edition would, therefore, seem to be the first; but Sabin, Bibl. amer., v. 5, 1873, p. 157, no. 18142, notes as the first an edition "published at Tuscarora Village, June 10, 1825"; the same edition is noted more briefly in his Catalogue of the library of Thomas W. Field, 1875, p. 68, no. 476, and in Field's Essay toward an Indian bibliography (N.Y., Scribner, 1873) p. 93, no. 394. Was the imprint given in Sabin taken from Cusick's preface (p. [3] in this edition) which is dated at "Tuscarora Village, June 10, 1825"? The date of copyright registration (verso of t.p.) is January 3, 1826, which would seem to weigh against the probability of publication previous to that date. No record has been found of the 1827 edition.
The 1825 edition noted by Sabin is described as a 12mo. The present edition is a 12mo. in half sheets without signature marks [a⁶, b⁶, c²]. The texts ends: "The Senators of the Five Nations met annually, at the fort Onondaga to promote their national prosperity." Final page or pages may be lacking. In the 2d. ed., 1828, and 3d ed., 1848 there are eight additional paragraphs, beginning. "The Long House were free and independent nations ..." and ending with "The Mohawk was considered the oldest language of the confederacy:" followed by 10 Mohawk, and 10 Tuscarora words.
