Press Releases

Spartanburg, South Carolina

November 2016

 

South Carolina Publisher Reissues

Classic Early History of Georgia

 

The Reprint Company Publishers of Spartanburg, SC, has recently reissued one of the earliest histories of Georgia. The History of Georgia, Volumes 1 & 2, by Charles Colcock Jones Jr., originally published in 1883, is now available in a hardback print on demand edition.

Long known for publishing quality reprint editions of historical and genealogical books for the Southeastern area, the company “originally published a reprint edition of this work in the 1960s” says publisher Tom Smith, “and those printings have been out of print for twenty or more years.”

This is the “classic” work on the history of Georgia through the Revolutionary War by Charles Colcock Jones Jr., one of the most versatile and prolific historical writers of all time. He was the first native-born Georgian to write a history of his state. Born in Savannah, Jones ultimately published almost one hundred books, pamphlets, and articles relating to the history of Georgia as a colony and state.

In his U.S. IANA, Wright Howes called this a “most scholarly history of the colonial and revolutionary period of this state.” The history received accolades from fellow historians for “its style and extensive use of original sources.” Volume One deals with the aboriginal and colonial times while Volume Two covers the revolutionary period.

Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe, a young philanthropist who was inspired to find a refuge for “unfortunate individuals, confined for debt, of respectable connections and guilty of no crime.” In granting the charter for the colony in 1732, the King was motivated by the anxiety of the Carolinians to establish a buffer to the south to serve as a shield against incursions of the Spanish in Florida as well as Indian attacks. The trustees also believed that the soil and climate in Georgia were favorable to the production of raw silk and success in this would save vast sums which were spent annually in the purchase of foreign silks. Due to the makeup of the original settlers, the trustees also put restrictions on how land could be held, sold, or inherited and originally did not allow slavery in the colony.

Volume One deals with descriptions of the Indian population, early Spanish exploration, the granting of the Royal Charter to Oglethorpe and his colonization of Savannah, early settlements including those of the Salzburgers, the work of the Wesleys in Georgia, and the Rev. George Whitefield and his Bethesda Orphan House. Much detail is given to Oglethorpe’s work between 1737 and 1748 to build Frederica, a fort and town, as well as other posts in the St. Simons Island area to protect the southern boundary against Spanish raids.

Volume Two deals extensively with the Revolutionary War period: the events leading up to the war; battles in the southern part of the colonies; the siege of Savannah; and the final independence of the state.

While a history of Georgia, there is much information in both volumes about South Carolina and its relationships with Georgia, particularly as the two fought together during the Revolution.

Persons interested in the history of Alabama and Mississippi will find these volumes of interest as many of the early settlers in the Indian country west of the Chattahoochee River (present-day Alabama and Mississippi) migrated from Georgia. In fact Jones called Alabama “the daughter of Mississippi and the granddaughter of Georgia.”

As a print on demand title, these books are printed upon receipt of an order. They are hardback and are printed on archival-quality paper. The books normally ship directly from the bindery within five days of receipt of an order.

Jones’s 1200-page history is priced at $120 for the set of two volumes. Books can be ordered on the company’s website, www.reprintcompany.com, or directly from The Reprint Company Publishers, Post Office Box 5401, Spartanburg, SC, 29304.