Today the mail brought me a wonderful book to read,

New-England’s prospect. Being a true, lively, and experimental description of that part of America, commonly called New-England: discovering the state of that country, both as it stands to our new-come English planters; and to the old native inhabitants. And laying down that which may both enrich the knowledge of the mind-travelling reader, or benefit the future voyager. By William Wood

it arrived at about noon and now at eight, I’m just getting around to writing about. What I find most remarkable about this book is the writing. Wood, although we know next to nothing about him, has quite a developed style. When compared to writing styles of    Josselyn’s An Account of Two Voyages to New England.1674 and His New-Englands rarities discovered 1672 : or Higginson’s.  A True Relation of the Last Voyage to New England. 1629, or even Thomas Morton, New English Canaan 1637 , it is far more readable and more interesting and it seems more learned.

Which makes me ask myself, how, do we have another “Who wrote…”  question here?

you can read the whole book here>>http://archive.org/details/newenglandsprosp00wood

BUT IT IS SO MUCH BETTER TO OWN THE REAL THING !!

As for who Wood was, I will leave it for others, for now (as always) the book stands (independent of the author) on its own as a really wonderful first look at New England.

328G   Wood, William.           fl 1629-1635

New-England’s prospect. Being a true, lively, and experimental description of that part of America, commonly called New-England: discovering the state of that country, both as it stands to our new-come English planters; and to the old native inhabitants. And laying down that which may both enrich the knowledge of the mind-travelling reader, or benefit the future voyager. By William Wood

[Boston] London, printed 1639. Boston, New-England, re-printed by Thomas and John Fleet, in Cornhill; and Green and Russell, in Queen-Street,1764  .  $2,500

Octavo, .  Fourth edition [a]  b  c  B-R   This copy is bound in modern quarter calf, it is a very nice copy, with the bookplate of Frank C. Deering, the noted collector of captivity narratives.

As Wood promised in his title this book is the First description of New-England, it is part natural history, part ethnography and remarkably well written.  He writes

“The country as it is in relation to the Indians, is divided as it were into Shires, every severall division being swayed by a severall King”

Wood sets a high bar for those where to follow him in writing about both nature and the inhabitants of New England.

This text is presented in two parts.  The first is on New England geography and nature, in twelve chapters, and the second on Natives in 20 chapters.  (this is described in more detail below)

This edition contains a new introduction by Nathaniel Rogers (attributed by Sibley’s) which surveys the political and economic relationship between Great Britain and the colonies, and perhaps suggests that this edition was issued as part of a discussion of the Sugar Act and the impending Stamp Act?
EVANS 9884. SABIN 105077. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 8. VAIL 559. PILLING, ALGONQUIAN, pp.535-36. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 4201. BRINLEY SALE 379.

William Wood

William Wood, author of New Englands Prospect … (1634), the earliest comprehensive record of New England’s natural resources and inhabitants prior to European colonization, arrived in Massachusetts in 1629. Alden T. Vaughan, editor of the latest edition of Wood’s book, speculates that Wood was probably one of John Endecott’s scouting party that settled in Salem a year before the royal charter established the Massachusetts Bay Colony; this theory would account for Wood’s scanty references to English colonists and for the uncharacteristically secular tone of this early work. Records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony report that he was admitted a freeman in May 1631. In August 1633 he went back to England, intending to return to America, and in September 1634 the General Court sent “letters of thankfullnes” to Wood among others “that have been benefactors to this plantation.” Although several biographers identify him as a William Wood who is mentioned in several sources as living in New-England in the late 1630s, there is no supporting evidence for this supposition. Nothing is known definitively about his life, including the dates and places of his birth and death.

To refute “many scandalous and false reports past upon the Country,” Wood undertook in New Englands Prospect … to provide his readers “the true, and faithfull relation of some few years travels and experience….” But despite his efforts at objectivity, he clearly delights in New England, and from a firsthand vantage point he favorably compares its geography, climate, soil, and crop production with England’s. Similarly, he attributes reports of death among colonists to unhealthful conditions on the voyage over and reports of suffering to the improvidence of those who came without adequate provisions. In the one chapter that specifically discusses evils afflicting the plantations, he speaks (not)only of wolves (“ravening runnagadoes” which devour cattle), frogs, insects, and the rattlesnake, “a most poysonous and dangerous creature, yet nothing so bad as the report goes of him in England….” Thus he downplays the hazards while stressing the unique opportunities and economic advantages awaiting the adventurous, industrious, and provident settler.

Part 1 describes New England’s geography, climate, soil, plants, and animal life as well as the conditions affecting the few English settlements. Part 2 describes the coastal Indians, assessing each tribe individually and offering observations on such aspects as their appearance, diet, government, marriage customs, religion, warfare, sports, and mourning for the dead. Following part 2 is “a small nomenclator” of the Indian Language. Part 2 is most notable for Wood’s generally sympathetic although not uncritical portrayal of these Indians. Despite his lighthearted treatment, he acknowledges them to be “wise, lofty-spirited, constant in friendship to one another; true in their promise, and more industrious than many others.”

Written in a lively and descriptive style, New Englands Prospect … combines graceful prose with creditable verse, as Wood embellishes his richly informative material with vivid anecdotes and witty observations.

New Englands Prospect … aroused great public interest and was widely recommended to those seeking further knowledge about New England. Thomas Morton referred to it frequently in his New English Canaan … (1637);, In 1878, Moses Coit Tyler praised it as “a very sprightly and masterful specimen of descriptive literature.” But the book’s lasting significance goes beyond its descriptive merits. Because Wood “wrote on American topics from an English background and in an English idiom,” Vaughan credits him with having “foreshadowed an emergent literary tradition.” Moreover, New Englands Prospect … provides remarkable insight into the natural factors influencing the white settlers in their new environment: the flora and fauna, the customs of the Indian inhabitants, and the dramatic interaction of the two races on the new continent.

William Wood from Dictionary of Literary Biography. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved