![[PENNSYLVANIA-MARYLAND BOUNDARY DISPUTE. The Case of Messieurs Penn, and the people of Pensylvania, and the Three Lower Counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware, in relation to a series of injuries and Hostilities made upon them, for several years past, by Thomas Cressap, and others, by the direction and authority of the Deputy-General of Maryland. [London: 1737]. 8pp., large folio. (A few minor marginal tears without loss of text, slight splitting along folds).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/NYR/2015_NYR_11610_0067_000(pennsylvania-maryland_boundary_dispute_the_case_of_messieurs_penn_and102148).jpg?w=1)
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[PENNSYLVANIA-MARYLAND BOUNDARY DISPUTE. The Case of Messieurs Penn, and the people of Pensylvania, and the Three Lower Counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware, in relation to a series of injuries and Hostilities made upon them, for several years past, by Thomas Cressap, and others, by the direction and authority of the Deputy-General of Maryland. [London: 1737]. 8pp., large folio. (A few minor marginal tears without loss of text, slight splitting along folds).
CRESSAP’S WAR AND THE PENN-BALTIMORE DISPUTE. One of the rarest documents in the long-running boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland, a fracas that devolved into open hostilities and vicious warfare on the frontier. This brief was filed by the Penn family in an appeal before the Privy Council, and it provides extensive information on the escalating conflict. Much trouble centered on a Marylander, John Cressap, holder of a Maryland militia commission, who moved in 1721 to a farm near Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, touching off what the DAB describes as “a murderous little war,” culminating in the burning of Cresap’s home in November 1736. Maryland militia were deployed in 1736 and by Pennsylvania in 1737. The armed phase of the conflict ended in May 1738 with the intervention of King George II, who compelled the negotiation of a cease-fire. The bitter disputes, though, continued in court, and a definitive settlement was only reached in 1767, when the Mason–Dixon line was recognized as the permanent boundary between the two colonies. A very rare imprint: copies are held by the John Carter Brown Library; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the present. Sabin 59685; Sabin 59962 (caption title); DAB IV, p.538.
CRESSAP’S WAR AND THE PENN-BALTIMORE DISPUTE. One of the rarest documents in the long-running boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland, a fracas that devolved into open hostilities and vicious warfare on the frontier. This brief was filed by the Penn family in an appeal before the Privy Council, and it provides extensive information on the escalating conflict. Much trouble centered on a Marylander, John Cressap, holder of a Maryland militia commission, who moved in 1721 to a farm near Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, touching off what the DAB describes as “a murderous little war,” culminating in the burning of Cresap’s home in November 1736. Maryland militia were deployed in 1736 and by Pennsylvania in 1737. The armed phase of the conflict ended in May 1738 with the intervention of King George II, who compelled the negotiation of a cease-fire. The bitter disputes, though, continued in court, and a definitive settlement was only reached in 1767, when the Mason–Dixon line was recognized as the permanent boundary between the two colonies. A very rare imprint: copies are held by the John Carter Brown Library; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the present. Sabin 59685; Sabin 59962 (caption title); DAB IV, p.538.