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Americana To 1800
1. ABINGDON, WILLOUGHBY BERTIE, Earl of. Thoughts on the Letter of Edmund Burke, Esq; to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the Affairs of America.... Oxford: For W. Jackson: sold by J. Almon, and J. Bew, [1777]. 64 p. Later cloth. Fine. $350
First edition. Abingdon was a leading British supporter of colonial rights. Here he attacks Burke for yielding to party sentiment in the House, and also comments on Myles Cooper's National Humiliation and Repentence Recommended. Abingdon's work was highly popular and went through several subsequent printings, including a 1778 American edition. Adams, American Controversy, 77-1a; Howes A14.
BEST EARLY ACCOUNT OF NEW SWEDEN, IN THE ORIGINAL BOARDS
2. ACRELIUS, ISRAEL. Beskrifning om de Swenska församlingars forna och närwarande tilstånd, uti det så kallade Nya Swerige, sedan Nya Nederland, men nu för tiden Pensylvanien, samt nåstliggande orter wid aelfwen De la Ware, Wåst-Yersey och New-Castle County uti Norra America.... Stockholm: Harberg & Hesselberg, 1759. 4to. [20], 449 [i.e., 448], 479-533, [1] p. Contemporary paper-covered boards, gold-stamped paper label on spine. Spine and extremities of boards worn, internally near fine. Bookplates. $2500
First edition of the best early account of the Swedish settlements on the Delaware River, and the most comprehensive and accurate history of New Sweden until Amandus Johnson's Swedish Settlements on the Delaware (1911). Acrelius came to America in 1749 as provost of the Swedish churches on the Delaware, and served as pastor of a church in Wilmington until 1756, when he returned to Sweden. A full English translation of the work was published in 1874. This is the first copy we have handled in the original boards, with full wide (202 x 175 mm.) margins and a very minimal amount of browning. Most copies have been trimmed and rebound and exhibit varying degrees of browning. Howes A34; JCB(III) I, 1202; Vail 528; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 1.
AN ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD DRUMMER BOY SIGNS UP IN MAY 1776 3. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION). Partly printed enlistment certificate of Charles Ashby, 1 May 1776, signed (with his mark) by Ashby and witnessed by Justice of the Peace William Jones. One page quarto. Light overall age-toning and soiling, partial split along center fold. Very good. $2800
A remarkable record of an eleven-year-old Loyalist's enlistment into a British artillery regiment. Two months before the Declaration of Independence, young Charles Ashby certifies that he is "aged eleven years," stands "5 feet 4 inches high," was "born in Charles Town in South Carolina," and acknowledges that he "voluntarily Inlisted myself a Drummer to serve His Majesty King George the Third" in the regiment of artillery commanded by Viscount Townshend. In the attestation below, the local justice of the peace certifies that Ashby was not an apprentice, a militia man, or a soldier in any other corps, and that he heard read to the enlistee the second and sixth sections of the Articles of War against mutiny and desertion. A remarkable ephemeral record of the American Revolution.
4. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION). Remarks on Dr. Price's Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, &c. London: For. G. Kearsley, 1776. [4], 76 p. Removed. Early owner's stamp in top margin of title, else very good. $450
First edition. A reply to Richard Price's important Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, published earlier in the year. Not to be confused with Adam Ferguson's similarly- titled reply to Price. Adams, American Controversy, 129a, noting only 75 pages; Thomas, Stephens, and Jones, Richard Price, II-35.
THE GREAT FADEN MAP OF THE TRENTON-PRINCETON CAMPAIGN
5. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEW JERSEY--MAP). Plan of the Operations of General Washington, against the Kings Troops in New Jersey, from the 26th of December 1776, to the 3d January 1777. By William Faden. London: Wm. Faden, 15 April 1777. 12 x 16 in. (platemark) plus full margins. Copperplate engraving. Troop movements highlighted in red and blue. A pristine copy, as flawless as the day it was printed. Correctly matted and framed to conservation standards in a handsome antique Hogarth-style gilt frame. Ready to hang. $22,000
The finest copy we have seen of the most sought-after New Jersey Revolutionary War map. William Faden's plan depicts the crucial ten-day campaign that began with Washington's fabled crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776, the defeat of the surprised Hessians at Trenton the next day, and the march to Princeton and the successful battle there on January 3, 1777. Shown are the roads and terrain from Rock Hill bridge south through Kingstown, Princetown, and Maidenhead, to Trenton, then across the Delaware to Newtown, Middletown, and Bristol. Also shown are Cranberry, Allenstown, Crosswicks, and Burdenton [Bordentown], as well as Pennington. Delicately highlighted in red and blue watercolors are the routes taken by the various American and British troops and their relative positions at the battles of both Trenton and Princeton. Engraved text adjacent to each road explains the troop movements. At the bottom left and right of the plan are tables of British losses: "Loss at Trenton, December 26th 1776" and "Loss in the Engagement, on the Road from Prince Town to Maidenhead, January the 3d 1777." A glorious copy of the great Faden Ten-Day map. Nebenzahl and Higginbotham, Atlas of the American Revolution, map 15; Nebenzahl, Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution, 119; Guthorn, British Maps of the American Revolution, 145.18; Stevens and Tree, "Comparative Cartography," 36(b).
6. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal. Boston: Benjamin Edes and Sons, Jan. 14, 1782. Folio. [4] p. Untrimmed. Three small chunks out of the blank gutter, else very good. $300
General war news and an account of the Moravian Indians, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, &c.
THE CONFLICT APPROACHES
7. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet or, The General Advertiser. Philadelphia: John Dunlap, Sept. 12, 1774. [4] p. Folio. Light browning, few minor spots, folds. Very good. $300
Essays on loyalty versus freedom, an account of the British seizing powder at Cambridge, a letter to the King, &c.
8. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The Essex Gazette. Salem: Samuel and Ebenezer Hall, Oct. 25, 1774. [4] p. Folio. Uncut. Light spotting, some splitting along folds. $300
The entire issue is devoted to attacks on England and opposition to all English measures being taken in Massachusetts and America.
9. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The Massachusetts Gazette; and The Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser. Boston: Mills and Hicks, Sept. 5, 1774. [4] p. Folio. Uncut. Very good. Joseph Lee's copy. $300
The Quebec Bill and other bills affecting North America, an open letter from General Brattle, Bostonians decline to serve on the grand jury, and other news relating to the approaching conflict.
10. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The Massachusetts Gazette: and The Boston Weekly News-Letter. [Boston: Margaret Draper], Sept. 8, 1774. [4] p. Folio. Uncut. Very good. $350 Page 1, first column, reports the ouster of John Hancock from the Cadet Company, with several letters from both sides, including Hancock's. Also a long letter from General Brattle about the military stores at Concord, the resignation of many officers in protest of British acts, &c. Margaret Draper published the Massachusetts Gazette after the death of her husband, Richard Draper, on June 5, 1774.
11. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The New-Hampshire Gazette, and General Advertiser. [Portsmouth], Sept. 7, 1782. [4] p. Folio. Moderate overall toning, but very good. $300
An article on the front page is devoted to the creation and awarding of honorary badges of distinction for veterans. Other war news.
THE FIGHTING IN NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1776
12. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The New-Hampshire [State] Gazette, or, Exeter Circulating Morning Chronicle. Exeter: [Robert L. Fowle], Dec. 24, 1776. Fol. [4] p. Largely untrimmed. Few holes at center blank gutter (one costing several letters), one archival tape repair, few spots. $1200
A dramatic newspaper, the entire first page of which contains an account of the campaigns in New York. The inside text is nearly all war-related, including a superb article signed "Benevolens" on page 3 motivating the citizen-soldier to defend America.
NEW YORK IN JANUARY 1776
13. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The New-York Gazette: and the Weekly Mercury. New York: Hugh Gaine, Jan. 1, 1776. Folio. [4] p. Margins trimmed closely but without loss. $475
War news from New England, proceedings of the provincial congress, a letter from General Schuyler, &c., &c. Entirely war news.
14. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The Pennsylvania Journal, and the Weekly Advertiser. [Philadelphia: T. Bradford and P. Hall], Nov. 17, 1781. [4] p. Folio. Overall light toning and edge chips, corner dampstain, the two leaves separated. $300
War news, and a reprinting of a part of Raynal's Revolution of America.
15. (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEWSPAPER). The Salem Gazette. Salem: Samuel Hall, Apr. 3, 1783. [4] p. Folio. Name torn from upper right blank margin, just grazing a few letters, some foxing, but very good. $300 The front page is largely devoted to an essay on suicide. Also war news.
16. ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The Constitution and Standards of the Associate-Reformed Church in North-America. New-York: T. & J. Swords, 1799. 612, [3] p. Contemporary sheep. Extremities moderately worn, scattered foxing, else very good. Two blank leaves contain contemporary birth records of the Agnew family of New Brunswick, N.J. $200
Evans 35119.
17. BAYARD, FERDINAND-MARIE. Voyage dans L'Intérieur des Etats-Unis, a Bath, Win- chester, dans la Vallée de Shenandoah ... pendant l'Eté de 1791.... Paris: Chez Batilliot, An VI [i.e., 1798]. [iii]-xxv [i.e., xxiii], [1], 344, 347-349 p. Untrimmed, in undecorated later half morocco. Wanting half-title (or blank a1?), tear on G3 repaired, dampstain at top margin. $300
Enlarged second edition; first printed in Paris the previous year. The 23-year old Bayard traveled with his family to Bath, Virginia, to escape the hot Baltimore summer and to see rural America. He passed through Ellicott's Mill, Fredericktown, and Hagerstown, and his comments on American society are sympathetic and low-key. Monaghan 152; Clark II 77; Howes B255.
ONE OF THE EARLIEST PRINTED AMERICAN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS: THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK IS SENTENCED TO BE HANGED, DRAWN, AND QUARTERED
18. (BAYARD, NICHOLAS). An Account of the Commitment, Arraignment, Tryal and Condem- nation of Nicholas Bayard Esq; for High Treason, in Endeavouring to Subvert the Government of the Province of New York in America, by his Signing and Procuring others to Sign Scandalous Libels.... London: Printed at New York by order of his Excellency the Lord Cornbury, and reprinted at London, 1703. Fol. 31, [1] p. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Final leaf H2 supplied from another copy, title lightly browned, else a very attractive copy. $4800
The first English (and earliest obtainable) edition of one of the earliest printed American judicial proceedings. Nicholas Bayard (1644-1707), nephew of Peter Stuyvesant, was a mayor of New York and a member of the governor's council. When Jacob Leisler seized control of the government of New York in 1689, Bayard was a prime target, and he fled to Albany, where he was seized, brought back to the fort, and imprisoned. Finally Governor Sloughter arrived from England and had Bayard released. In 1697 the new governor, Bellomont, accused Bayard of complicity with the previous governor in the encouragement and protection of pirates. Bayard was removed from office and later accused of encouraging sedition and mutiny and of being a Jacobite. Tried for high treason, he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. The present work contains the entire text of the 1701/2 proceedings. The unobtainable American edition, printed in New York by Bradford in 1702, is known by only a few copies, in the usual old institutions; this English edition, which contains additional text (pp. 27-32), is almost as scarce. Howes B256; Church 809; Sabin 53436; European Americana 703/12; Ritz, American Judicial Proceedings, 1.05(2c).
REPORTS FROM AMERICA: 1740
19. BENSON, MARTIN. A Sermon Preached before the Incorporated Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; at their Anniversary Meeting ... February 15, 1739- 40. London: For J. and H. Pemberton, 1740. 88 p. Later half calf. Minor dampstaining of title, else very good. $350
Includes the often-missing appendix containing the proceedings of the society for the previous year, which deal almost entirely with its activities in North America, the success of its missionaries in converting the Indians, &c. European Americana 740/32.
20. BISHOP, ABRAHAM. An Oration on the Extent and Power of Political Delusion. Delivered in New-Haven ... September, 1800. ... The Second Edition.... Newark: Pennington and Gould, 1800. 71 p. Removed. Heavily foxed, title stained. Paper defect on E1 with loss of a few letters. $275
A popular anti-Federalist diatribe, originally published as Connecticut Republicanism and reprinted several times through 1801. Evans 36980; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 18.
PERSECUTIONS OF THE QUAKERS IN NEW ENGLAND
21. BISHOP, GEORGE. New-England Judged, by the Spirit of the Lord ... Containing a Brief Relation of the Sufferings of the People Call'd Quakers in New-England, from the Time of their First Arrival There, in the Year 1656, to the Year 1660. Wherein their Merciless Whippings, Chainings ... Burning in the Hand, Cutting off Ears ... are Briefly Described.... London: T. Sowle, 1703/02. [10], 113, 112-141, 152-498, 212, [14] p. Contemporary panelled calf, very skillfully rebacked in handsome period style, gilt. Hole in the margin of C4, some overall foxing, but a very attractive copy. Contemporary signatures of Jno. Hoyland Jun. and Joseph Stokes, bookplate of Charles Roberts. $1800
Second edition of Bishop's work but the first to combine the original editions of 1661 and 1667 with the first edition of John Whiting's Truth and Innocency Defended, here with its own title page and pagination. Bishop's work is a remarkable catalogue of the persecutions inflicted by the Puritans on the New England Quakers in the 1660s. Howes calls it the "Most exhaustive contemporary indictment of God-fearing Puritans driven by insensate religious fervor to sickening brutalities against other religious fanatics who dared to differ from themselves. Witch-hunting was bad; this was worse." Whiting's work is a reply to Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana. Howes B-481; European Americana 703/16. 22. BOUDINOT, ELIAS (1740-1816). Distinguished statesman; commissary general of prisoners in the Revolution; President of Congress; Director of the Mint. Letter signed, Elizabeth Town, 1 August 1769. To Andrew Elliot. One page, folio. Folds strengthened on verso; inlaid to another sheet. $900
Concerning Col. Templer and settling the estate of Sir John St. Clair.
DEATH OF A HARVARD SENIOR
23. BOYD, WILLIAM. An Oration on the Death of Mr. John Russell, Senior Sophister, at Harvard University. Delivered November 25.... Boston: John W. Folsom, for the author, 1795. 18 p. + final blank C2. Untrimmed. Old library stamp on title, partly inked out, title a bit soiled. $150
Russell was a senior at Harvard. His eulogist, William Boyd, would himself die in five years. Evans 28330.
24. BURKE, EDMUND. A Letter from Edmund Burke, Esq; One of the Representatives in Parliament for the City of Bristol, to John Farr and John Harris ... Sheriffs of that City, on the Affairs in America.... London: J. Dodsley, 1777. 75 p. Removed. Title inner margin repaired, with two tiny holes and loss of one letter. Very good. $200
Third London edition. Burke's plea to continue a relationship with America. Todd 28d; Adams, American Controversy, 77-19d; Howes B976.
25. BURKE, EDMUND. The Speech of Edmund Burke, Esq; on Moving his Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies, March 22, 1775. Dublin: J. Exshaw and R. Moncrieffe, 1775. [4], 88 p. Stitched in contemporary marbled wrappers (a bit scuffed). $225
First Dublin edition of Burr's famous speech urging conciliation with America. Todd 25f; Adams, American Controversy, 75-17d; Adams, American Independence, 157d; Howes B979.
AARON BURR NEW JERSEY SERMON: 1757
26. BURR, AARON. The Watchman's Answer to the Question, What of the Night, &c. A Sermon Preached before the Synod of New-York, Convened at Newark, in New-Jersey, September 30. 1756 ... The Second Edition. Boston: S. Kneeland, 1757. 46 p. Stitched in contemporary blue paper wrappers, then sewn into early (18th-century?) homemade covers. Stain on both wrappers and first few leaves of text, upper corner of title page worn away costing one letter, outer cover chipped at edges, else a very good copy. Eighteenth-century ownership signatures of Benjamin Sheldon and Josepha [?] Ely, the latter dated 1777. $900 Second edition of an early New Jersey sermon by the second president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Aaron Burr was born in Connecticut, graduated from Yale College, and in 1736 became minister of the First Church in Newark. He was one of the original trustees of the College of New Jersey, and after Jonathan Dickinson's death in 1747 Burr became the college's second president, serving until his own death ten years later. During his presidency the college moved from his parsonage in Newark to Princeton. He was the father of Aaron Burr (1756-1836), vice-president of the United States. Evans 7863; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 34.
27. [BUTEL-DUMONT, GEORGES MARIE]. Histoire et Commerce des Colonies Angloises, dans L'Amerique Septentrionale ... Principalement sur celui de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, de la Pensilvanie, de la Caroline, & de la Géorgie. A la Haye, 1755. 12mo. xvi, 246 p. Contemporary mottled calf, very skillfully rebacked retaining the original gilt spine. A nearly fine copy. $350
Second edition of an important economic survey of the North American colonies, first published earlier in the year in Paris. Butel-Dumont, a French diplomat, was concerned that the French took little interest in the English colonies, with the result that the balance of trade heavily favored England. He is especially interested in the production and commerce of each colony, as well as its government, and devotes chapters to New England, New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Clark I 209; Howes B1049.
CANAL ENGINEERING: 1797
28. CHAPMAN, WILLIAM. Observations on the Various Systems of Canal Navigation, with Inferences Practical and Mathematical; in which Mr. Fulton's Plan of Wheel-Boats, and ... Small Canals are Particularly Investigated.... London: By I. and J. Taylor, 1797. 4to. [8], 104 p. 4 engraved plates (1 fold.). Modern cloth (a bit amateur). Half title heavily dust- soiled with a few stains, verso of folding plate also a bit dust-soiled, inner hinge opening. Otherwise a large and internally clean copy, entirely untrimmed and mostly unopened. $900
First edition of an early work on canal engineering. William Chapman was a leading English civil engineer and an early advocate of canal transportation. A large part of his work deals with means of overcoming ascent in canals, including inclined planes and locks, and in one chapter the applies this technology to the great rivers in America.
DEFENDING THE AMERICAN COLONIES
29. CHAUNCY, CHARLES. A Letter to a Friend, Containing Remarks on Certain Passages in a Sermon Preached by ... John Lord Bishop of Landaff ... in which the Highest Reproach is Undeservedly Cast upon the American Colonies. Boston: Kneeland and Adams, for Thomas Leverett, 1767. 56 p. Untrimmed and stitched, as issued. Half title loose and with a part of the lower blank margin torn off. Light soiling and chipping at fore-edge. With the signature of Abraham Hill, 1767, on the half title. $550
First edition. The first response from America to Landaff's sermon deploring the heathenism and infidelity in America and urging the appointment of American bishops. Chauncy defends the American colonies and emphasizes their piety and missionary zeal. The next five years saw one of the largest pamphlet controversies in our history, drawing in such notables as Chauncy, William Livingston, Thomas Bradbury Chandler, and many others. Adams, American Controversy, 67-3a; Nelson, American Episcopate Controversy, 2; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 50; Evans 10579.
30. THE CHRISTIAN'S, SCHOLAR'S, AND FARMER'S MAGAZINE. December and January, 1790-91. [Elizabethtown: Shepard Kollock, 1791]. [505]-624 p. Untrimmed. In a library binder. Closed tear across one leaf, else very good. Bookplate. $150
Volume 2, number 5, of the third magazine published in New Jersey. See Felcone, New Jersey Books, 52.
31. CLINTON, HENRY. A Letter from Lieut. Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, K.B. to the Commissioners of Public Accounts, Relative to some Observations ... which may be judged to imply Censure on the late Commanders in Chief of His Majesty's Army in North America. London: For J. Debrett, 1784. 31, [1] p. + pasted-in explanation slip. Removed. About fine. $400
First edition. Clinton's vindication of his expenditures of public money while in command of the British army during the American Revolution. This copy contains Clinton's "Advertisement" slip pasted to the verso of the title page, justifying his decision to print his letter. Howes C494.
CLINTON VINDICATES THE BRITISH DEFEAT IN VIRGINIA
32. CLINTON, HENRY. The Narrative of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton, K.B. Relative to his Conduct During Part of his Command of the King's Troops in North America; Particularly to that which Respects the Unfortunate Issue of the Campaign in 1781. With an Appendix.... London: J. Debrett, 1783. [4], 115, [1] p. Later half morocco (scuffed around the extremities). First and last few leaves foxed. $500
Second edition. Clinton's spirited defense of his command of the British army in North America, particularly his account of the Virginia campaign that ended with the defeat and surrender of the British army at Yorktown. Cornwallis published a bitter reply to Clinton's narrative, beginning an acrimonious pamphlet and letter controversy. Clinton's work went through several editions in the first year of publication. Adams, American Controversy, 83-21c; Howes C496. 33. [CLINTON, HENRY]. Authentic Copies of Letters between Sir Henry Clinton ... and the Commissioners for Auditing the Public Accounts. London: Printed in the year 1793. [2], 41 p. Stitched as issued. Very fine. $350
First edition. On supplies furnished the British army under Clinton's command during the Revolutionary War in North America. Not in Howes.
FIRST QUAKER TO REACH PENNSYLVANIA: 1658
34. COALE, JOSIAH. The Books and Divers Epistles of the Faithful Servant of the Lord Josiah Coale.... [London]: Printed in the year, 1671. 4to. 28, 33-104, 152, 269-343 [i.e., 344] p. Complete as issued. Contemporary calf, neatly rebacked and recornered, later (but old) endpapers. Modern bookplate. $3000
First edition. Pages 14 through 19 contain a testimony by William Penn, most likely written while Penn was in prison. The testimony expresses great love and admiration for Coale. Josiah Coale was one of Penn's intimate friends during Penn's first years as a Quaker. Coale had been one of the early missionaries to the New World and was likely the first Quaker to touch Pennsylvania soil in 1658 (Bronner & Fraser p. 131). The text, erratically paginated but complete and conforming to the other known copies, contains several different essays and testimonies, including "An Epistle to Friends in New-England," "To the Flock of God, Gather'd out of the World in the Province of Maryland," "To all People in Jamaica," &c. "The VVhore Unveiled" has a separate title page dated 1667. European Americana 671/82; Wing C4751; Bronner & Fraser (Penn) 13; Baer (Maryland) 68; JCB(3) III:215.
35. A COLLECTION OF POEMS on Religious and Moral Subjects. Extracted from the Most Celebrated Authors. Elizabeth Town: Printed by Shepard Kollock, for Cornelius Davis, New York, 1797. [4], [3]-124 p. Contemporary mottled sheep. Short crack at bottom of upper hinge, occasional minor stains, but a very good copy. $350
Includes Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a County Church-Yard, Edward Young's The Last Day, and other poems. Some copies contain a separate title page, A1, for Gray's Elegy, but it is not in this copy or in most other copies. Felcone, New Jersey Books, 54; Evans 31953.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST FIVE ABOLITION CONVENTIONS
36. CONVENTION OF DELEGATES FROM THE ABOLITION SOCIETIES. Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies Established in Different parts of the United States, Assembled at Philadelphia.... Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, Junr., 1794. 30 p. Accompanied by the proceedings of the second through fifth conventions (Philadelphia: Poulson, 1795-1798; 32, 32, 59, 20 p.). All removed. Final leaf of final pamphlet damaged in the margin, with the loss of several letters, else all fine copies. The five items, $3000 In January 1794 representatives from the major state abolition societies held their first convention in Philadelphia. Joseph Bloomfield was elected president. The printed minutes record the names of the individual delegates, the state societies they represent, and the proceedings of the convention. Each succeeding year a similar meeting was held in Philadelphia, and the proceedings of the first five conventions are offered here. The minutes of the fourth meeting contains a lengthy and detailed appendix of the activities of the local societies, with local laws relating to slaves and slavery. Evans 26533, 28146, 29947, 31686, 33264.
18TH CENTURY AMERICAN COOKBOOK
37. (COOKERY). Briggs, Richard. The New Art of Cookery; According to the Present Practice; Being a Complete Guide to all Housekeepers, on a Plan Entirely New.... Boston: For W. Spotswood, 1798. xxiii, [25], 444 p. Contemporary sheep, very skillfully rebacked in period style, retaining the original spine label. Gathering N is very heavily foxed and spotted, and a few other gatherings are uniformly browned or foxed, due to the varying qualities of the paper stocks used. Otherwise, a very good copy. $3800
An early American printing of Briggs' cookbook, originally published in London in 1788. The text consists of recipes for all manner of foods, as well as puddings and pies and other sweets, candying, breads, the arts of carving and pickling, preserving, etc. Also monthly bills of fare. Cookbooks printed in America before 1800 are now rarely seen in trade, and almost never in fine condition. Several years ago we handled another copy of this book, now in the Library of Congress, and it, too, had a heavily browned and spotted gathering N and similarly browned and foxed sporatic gatherings. Such is the nature of early American paper. Lowenstein 25; Maclean pp. 15-16; Evans 33458.
38. COOPER, THOMAS. A Reply to Mr. Burke's Invective against Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Watt, in the House of Commons, on the 30th of April, 1792. Manchester: By M. Falkner and Co., 1792. 109 p. + errata on final leaf P4. Removed. Very good. $250
First edition. When Cooper visited Paris in 1792, he instituted correspondence between the Manchester Constitutional Society, of which he was an active member, and the Jacobins. Attacked in the House of Commons by Burke for his actions, Cooper replied in this strongly-worded tirade which was also a denunciation of the "privileged orders."
39. [DALLAS, ALEXANDER J.] Features of Mr. Jay's Treaty. To which is annexed A View of the Commerce of the United States, as it Stands at Present, and as it is Fixed by Mr. Jay's Treaty. Philadelphia: For Mathew Carey, by Lang & Ustick, 1795. 51 p. Removed. Title with a few edge chips and a trifle brittle, else near very good. $225
Dallas's criticism of the Jay Treaty. Evans 28527; Howes D26. 40. (DELAWARE). Hervey, James. The Beauties of Hervey: or Descriptive, Picturesque and Instructive Passages.... Wilmington: V. Bonsal, for Robert Campbell, Philadelphia, 1796. 226, [6] p. Contemporary sheep. Usual foxing, else a very attractive, tight copy. $200
Rink 408; Evans 30558.
41. [DOUGLAS, JOHN]. A Letter Addressed to Two Great Men, on the Prospect of Peace; and on the Terms Necessary to be Insisted upon in the Negotiation.... London: A. Millar, 1760. [4], 56 p. Removed, in later plain wrappers (chipped). $250
Second edition, corrected. Addressed to Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle, on the settle- ment with France. With much on the war in America. Howes L276.
AMERICA FULFILLED THE CONTRACT
42. DUMMER, JEREMIAH. A Defence of the New-England Charters. London: J. Almon, [1765]. 88 p. Neat modern half cloth. Title with old library stamp, few edge chips, else a very nice copy. $500
Dummer's defense of the colonial charters was first published in 1721; it was reprinted several times, including this printing at the time of the Stamp Act. Basically, it argued that these charters were contractual in nature, and, once fulfilled by the colonists, they could not be abrogated by the Crown. Adams, American Controversy, 65-7; Howes D554.
43. [DWIGHT, TIMOTHY]. The True Means of Establishing Public Happiness. A Sermon, Delivered on the 7th of July, 1795, before the Connecticut Society of Cincinnati.... New Haven: T. & S. Green, and sold by I. Beers, [1795]. 40 p. Removed. Without half title. Light foxing. $250
Evans 28610; BAL 5050.
BOUND BY AN 18TH-CENTURY AMERICAN MINISTER/BOOKBINDER
44. (EARLY AMERICAN BINDING). Schultz, Christoph. Kurze Fragen Ueber die Christiche Glaubens-Lehre ... Den Christlichen Glaubens-Schulern.... Philadelphia: Carl Cist, 1784. [10], 140 p. Contemporary sprinkled calf, blind roll and fillets on boards and spine, red sprinkled edges, by Christoph Hoffmann. A nice, tight copy. $900
A nicely preserved Hoffmann binding. Christoph Hoffmann (1727-1804) was a Schwenckfelder minister as well as an accomplished bookbinder who worked in Philadelphia County from the early 1760s. Bryn Mawr/Maser Collection 15; German Language Printing 610; Evans 18779. FROM THE LIBRARY OF AARON LOPEZ, NEWPORT, 1772
45. (EARLY AMERICAN JUDAICA). Orrery, John Boyle, Earl of. Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift ... in a Series of Letters ... Fifth Edition. London: For A. Millar, 1752. 12mo. [2], 240, [10] p. Port. by Ravenel. Contemporary sheep, heavily worn, corners eroded, front cover detached, front endpaper wanting. From the library of Aaron Lopez, signed on the verso of the portrait "Aaron Lopez's Book | New Port Novr. 18th. 1772." $1000
Aaron Lopez (1731-1782) was a Jewish merchant and philanthropist and, prior to the Revolution, was the wealthiest person in Newport, Rhode Island. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, he belonged to a family of conversos who professed Catholicism while continuing to practice Judaism in secret. In 1752 he moved to Newport, where he became a successful merchant and one of the founders of the Touro Synagogue. Unable to become a naturalized citizen in Rhode Island because of his faith, he moved temporarily to Massachusetts, became a citizen, and returned to Newport. Books from the libraries of colonial American Jews are very rare.
18TH-CENTURY MISSIONARY TO THE INDIANS
46. EDWARDS, JONATHAN. An Account of the Life of the Reverend Mr. David Brainerd, Minister of the Gospel; Missionary to the Indians ... and Pastor of a Church of Christian Indians in New-Jersey.... Worcester, Mass.: Leonard Worcester, 1793. 346, 84 p. Contemporary sheep. First and last few leaves pulled slightly and browned at the fore-edge tips, binding scuffed, head and tail of spine chipped away, hinges beginning to split, glue residue on pastedowns. Eighteenth-century signature of Eliphalet Gillet, later bookplate of a church library. A good copy. $450
Later edition of Edwards's classic biography, first printed in Boston in 1749. The second section is a reprint of Brainerd's Mirabilia Dei inter Indicos, first printed in Philadelphia in 1748. Edwards's work is one of the classic mid-eighteenth-century accounts of missionary life among the American Indians. David Brainerd (1718-1747) was a Connecticut native who was expelled from Yale in 1742 for, among other things, sympathizing with the Whitefield revival and remarking that a particular college tutor had "no more grace than this chair." After his ordination to the ministry, he served as a missionary to the Indians in the Massachusetts-New York border area and near present-day Easton, Pennsylvania, before going to New Jersey, where he remained until early 1747. He died later that year at the home of his future father-in-law, and biographer, Jonathan Edwards. Edwards' account consists chiefly of entries from Brainerd's diaries, with inserted comments and extracts from letters. The work was reprinted frequently and is still in print today. Evans 25431, 25228; Johnson, Jonathan Edwards, 143; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 71.
47. EDWARDS, JONATHAN. The History of the Work of Redemption. Containing the Outlines of a Body of Divinity.... New York: Shepard Kollock, 1786. xxiv, [2], [25]-402, [2] p. Contemporary mottled sheep. One leaf of contents misbound, occasional foxing, else a very attractive, tight copy. "Peter B. Dumont his Book Bought of Peter H. Dumont 1786 Price 11/3" on front endpaper. $400
With a preface by Jonathan Edwards, Jun. This copy contains the added leaf c5, "Subscribers' names omitted." Johnson 246; Evans 19616.
1736 CONNECTICUT SERMON
48. ELIOT, JARED. The Two Witnesses; or, Religion Supported by Reason and Divine Revela- tion. N. London: T. Green, 1736. [4], 79 p. incl. half title. Untrimmed and stitched as issued. Outside of first and last leaf rather soiled and with two small old gummed tape repairs, minor dampstain in margins of last few leaves, else a very good copy. $600
A sermon preached before the North Society at Lyme, Connecticut. Jared Eliot (1685- 1763) was a 1706 Yale graduate and pastor of the Congregational Church at Killington for over fifty years. Johnson, New London Imprints, 337; Evans 4013.
1798 NEW JERSEY JUVENILE
49. THE ENTERTAINING, MORAL, AND RELIGIOUS REPOSITORY; Containing Upwards of Three Score Separate Performances, all of which are Written in a Simple yet Pleasing Style, and are Eminently Calculated for the Amusement and Instruction of the Youth of Both Sexes ... In Two Volumes. Elizabeth-Town: Shepard Kollock, 1798. 396 p. Contemporary sheep (worn, front hinge cracking). Tape repair on title page and on several other early leaves, overall soiling and staining, numerous gatherings pulled. Withal, a respectable copy. $900
Volume 1 only. This first edition of the Entertaining, Moral, and Religious Repository contains the first appearance in America of several of the Cheap Repository tracts of Hannah More and others. The work was originally issued in parts and first advertised in Shepard Kollock's New-Jersey Journal of August 28, 1798. Other than a few surviving copies of the first part, containing the first 96 pages, copies are known entirely from the bound volumes, and the two volumes are rarely found together. Some copies contain a contents leaf which was tipped in later between A1 and A2; it is not present in this copy. Evans 35296; Welch 361.2.
1800 NEW JERSEY JUVENILE
50. THE ENTERTAINING, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS REPOSITORY; Containing, Upwards of Three Score Separate Performances, all of which are Written in a Simple yet Pleasing Stile, and are Eminently Calculated for the Amusement and Instruction of the Youth of Both Sexes. Elizabeth-Town: Shepard Kollock, for C. Davis, New York, 1800. [2], 324 p. Contemporary undecorated sheep-backed marbled paper-covered boards (rubbed, corners worn). Usual light foxing. An unusually clean and tight copy. With an 1804 ownership signature of Jane Sears. $1500
A reissue of the second volume of Kollock's 1798 edition, with a new title leaf. Evans 37374; Welch 361.7; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 78.
AMERICAN POETRY, 1772
51. EVANS, NATHANIEL. Poems on Several Occasions, with some other Compositions. Phila- delphia: John Dunlap, 1772. xxviii, 160, [3]-24 p. Contemporary calf, very skillfully rebacked in period style. The usual foxing, else the nicest copy of this book we have seen. Late 19th century book label of A. G. Odenbaugh. $750
First and only contemporary edition of the works of this early American poet who died at the age of 25. A native of Philadelphia and a resident of Haddonfield, New Jersey, Evans was an S.P.G. missionary for Gloucester County and a friend and correspondent of Elizabeth Graeme (later, Ferguson). Copies of the book often lack the list of subscribers, the ode on Evans' death by Elizabeth Graeme, and the 24-page discourse at the end, all of which are present in this copy. The errata slip, as always, is not present. Wegelin 133; Evans 12386; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 85.
52. FELCONE, JOSEPH J. New Jersey Books, 1698-1800. The Joseph J. Felcone Collection. Princeton, 1992. xii, 303 p. Frontis. Cloth. New. $40
The first of two volumes, covering 1698 through 1800, and the finest single reference work on early New Jersey books. Over 300 pre-1801 New Jersey books and pamphlets are described in considerable bibliographical detail, and the history of each book or pamphlet is given in the context of the New Jersey events which led to its publication. New Jersey papermaking, printing, bookbinding, and book distribution are all covered. New Jersey law compilations and legal treatises, almanacs, Bibles, children's books, school books, travel journals and narratives, Revolutionary War pamphlets, magazines, and theological works of every kind are fully described. An essential reference book for libraries and a great gift for a New Jersey collector. Only a few copies remain. Inscribed upon request.
53. [FOTHERGILL, SAMUEL]. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and a Divine Communion, Recommended and Inforced, in a Sermon Publicly Delivered at a Meeting of the People Called Quakers, Held in Leeds, the 26th of the Sixth Month ... 1769.... Philadelphia: Re-printed by Joseph Crukshank, 1771. 30 p. Removed. Some browning and foxing, contemporary ms. Friends' library notation on title page. $200
First American edition. Attributed to Fothergill by Smith, Friends' Books, i:637. Evans 12046.
MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC BOOK OF 18TH-CENTURY AMERICA 54. FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America ... To which are added, Letters and Papers on Philosophical Subjects.... London: For F. Newbery, 1774. 4to. v, [1], 514, [16] p. 7 engraved plates, several woodcut text illustrations. Lacks half-title. Contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, calf spine, very skillfully rebacked in period style. Later endpapers. Occasional foxing of both text and plates, some offsetting from a few plates, light stains on H3-4 and 2M3-4. Withal a very good copy. $8500
The fifth and final edition of the book that PMM calls "the most important scientific book of eighteenth-century America." "English editions one, two, and three had been published carelessly ... he edited the fourth edition in person [and] introduced footnotes ... Other notes corrected faults of early ignorance. In some cases the actual text was revised ... The most outstanding difference ... is of course in content."—I. Bernard Cohen, Benjamin Franklin's Experiments. In addition to the famous kite and key experiment, Franklin's work with Leiden jars, lightning rods, and charged clouds is summarized. The fifth edition is essentially a reprint of the fourth edition with several small corrections. PMM 199 (1st edn.); Wheeler Gift 367b; Ford 307; Howes F320 ("b").
18TH-CENTURY WAX PORTRAIT OF FRANKLIN BY ISAAC GOSSET
55. (FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN). Gosset, Isaac. Wax portrait of Benjamin Franklin. London, 18th Century. Oval relief profile, on a matching wax background, 4½ x 3½ in., in the original gilt frame (overall 6¼ x 5½ in.). In excellent condition. $6000
A lovely honey and pink wax portrait of Franklin by one of the best-known eighteenth-century wax modellers. Isaac Gosset (1713-1799) served his apprenticeship in London with his uncle, sculptor and wax modeller Matthew Gosset. Isaac became a highly skilled modeller of cameo miniatures and wax portraits as well as a sought-after framemaker, supplying frames to Hogarth, Gainsborough, and other leading artists of the period. The present portrait was owned in the 1950s by Retha Sales, a well-known collector of wax portraits, who attributed the work, almost certainly incorrectly, to the early American sculptor Patience Wright. Sales' extensive notes are preserved on the frame's backing. In 1991 the portrait and frame were conserved by a leading art restorer specializing in wax miniatures. The highly documented conservation report, with a full suite of before-and-after photographs, accompanies the portrait, as does a folder of notes kept by a former owner. The portrait was most recently exhibited in a museum show, and the illustrated catalogue of that show (with a lengthy entry attributing the work to Patience Wright) also accompanies the portrait.
56. (FRENCH REVOLUTION). D'Aumont, J.B. A Narrative of the Proceedings Relating to the Suspension of the King of the French, on the 10th of August, 1792. Manchester (Eng.): By M. Falkner and Co., 1792. 58 p. Removed. Fine. $275
Edited, and presumably published, by Thomas Cooper shortly before he left England to come to America. Includes introductory remarks by Cooper indicating how he came into possession of the manuscript. Also includes an essay by Condorcet, again introduced by Cooper.
THE CALENDAR: QUAKER STYLE
57. FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF. To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends in Great- Britain, Ireland, and America. [London? 1751.] Fol. 4 p. Early strengthening along some folds, with slight masking of type. $150
Recommending the use of Quaker-style days and months (first, second, etc) rather than named days and months, as are used by idolatrous heathens.
58. FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF. Two Epistles, Taken out of G. Fox's Collection of Epistles, Recommended by this Yearly-Meeting, 1716. [London? 1716?]. 2 p., folio (broadsheet, printed on both sides). Two marginal splits neatly repaired, else fine. $400
Both sides of the sheet are paginated, and "FINIS" appears at the foot of the verso. The sheet was originally folded three times horizontally, and at the top of the docket-folded sheet, in an early eighteenth century hand, is "G: ff: Epistles Recomended from ye yearly Meeting 1716." In pencil at the foot of the verso, in a turn-of-this-century hand, is "(Printed 1716 in Phila by Andrew Bradford)." Despite this attribution, it is far more likely that the item was printed in London. The only recorded copy in America is in DLC, bound into a volume of broadsides printed in London and York, and originally from the library of a man residing in York.
ONE OF THE EARLIEST BOOKS PRINTED IN GERMAN TYPE IN AMERICA
59. (GERMAN AMERICANA). Zionitischer Weyrauchs Hügel Oder: Myrrhen Berg, Worinnen allerley liebliches und wohl riechendes nach Apotheker-Kunst zubereitetes Rauch-Werck zu finden.... Germantown [Pa.]: Christoph Sauer, 1739. 8vo. [12], 792, [14] p. Contemporary calf over wooden boards, clasps lacking, very skillfully rebacked in period style. Free endpapers neatly replaced with old paper, original pastedowns present and with contemporary notes in a German hand. A few very tiny ink-burn holes in the title, last eight leaves with small neat strengthening at the fore-edge just touching a few letters, the usual light browning and staining to the text. A very good, quite attractive copy. In a cloth portfolio and morocco- backed slipcase. $6500
The first substantial book printed in German type in America, preceded only by a few pamphlets and small books. The Weyrauchs Hügel was printed for the Ephrata Brethren of Pennsylvania and contains hymns sung at their cloister. Its publication led to a well-known dispute between Saur and Conrad Beissel, the religious leader in Ephrata, and many copies were purportedly ordered burned. Hildeburn in 1885 wrote, "As the edition was small and the book was in common use for devotional purposes, it has become extremely scarce, nearly all of the few known copies being imperfect." While modern scholarship would temper Hildeburn's appraisal somewhat, this is still essentially the earliest obtainable German- American imprint, and most of the recorded copies are indeed not beautiful. German Language Printing 17 notes two minor variants, of which the present copy is variant A. An excellent copy of an important book in the early American printing canon as well as a cornerstone work in early American hymnology. Hildeburn 617; Seidensticker p. 11; Reichmann 11; Evans 4466.
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, IN A LOVELY CONTEMPORARY BINDING
60. GODWIN, WILLIAM. Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on Morals and Happiness. Philadelphia: Bioren and Madan, 1796. 2 vols., 12mo. xvi, [1], 22-362 p.; viii, 400 p. Contemporary mottled sheep, spines with red title labels and dark green volume- number labels with gilt ovals. Quarter-sized piece torn from one front endpaper, one gathering slightly pulled, occasional very light scattered foxing, but a fine, clean copy in lovely period bindings. Quite unusual in this condition. $2600
First American edition of Godwin's most famous work. Originally published in 1793 and revised in 1796, the Enquiry "was one of the earliest, the clearest, and most absolute theoretical expressions of socialist and anarchist doctrines. Godwin believed that the motives of all human action were subject to reason, that reason taught benevolence, and that therefore all rational creatures could live in harmony without laws and institutions...." (PMM 243) Evans 30493.
61. HARDIE, JAMES. The American Remembrancer, and Universal Tablet of Memory: Con- taining a List of the most Eminent Men ... the most Memorable Events in History ... the whole being intended to form a Comprehensive Abridgment of History and Chronology, particularly of that part which relates to America. Philadelphia: For the author by Thomas Dobson, 1795. vi, [2], 259 p. Folding table. Contemporary sprinkled sheep. A near-fine copy. Contemporary signature of David Buffum Jun. and early label of the Miantonomoh Circulating Library. $200
First edition. Evans 28800.
62. HARTLEY, THOMAS. A Discourse on Mistakes Concerning Religion, Enthusiasm, Exper- iences, &c. Germantown [Pa.]: Christopher Sower, 1759. 168 p. Removed. Very nice. $225
First American edition. Evans 8364.
HARVARD GRADUATES BY CLASS, 1642-1791
63. HARVARD UNIVERSITY. Catalogus eorum qui in Universitate Harvardiana, Cantabrig- iae.... Bostoniae: Typis Thomae et Johannis Fleet, 1791. [39] p. Untrimmed. Very good. $150 Harvard's triennial catalogue, listing all graduates, by class, from 1642 through 1791. Evans 23430.
A PRISTINE COPY OF THE FIRST PRINTED ACCOUNT OF A VOYAGE TO AFRICA BY AN AMERICAN
64. HAWKINS, JOSEPH. A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa, and Travels into the Interior of that Country; Containing Particular Descriptions of the Climate and Inhabitants, and Interesting Particulars Concerning the Slave Trade. Philadelphia: Printed for the author, by S. C. Ustick, & Co., 1797. 12mo. 179, [1] p. Engraved frontis. Contemporary mottled sheep. Minor paper defect on A2, else a pristine copy--nearly as fresh and bright as the day it was bound. $4500
First edition of the first printed account of a voyage to Africa by an American, and a superlative copy. Hawkins sailed from Charleston in early December 1793 and reached the coast of Africa in mid-January 1794. A large part of his travels was in the land of the Ibo, in West Africa. The Ibos were then at war with the Gallas, and Hawkins devotes a considerable amount of description to this conflict. He remained in Africa for a year and a half, and he describes the culture of the tribes he saw, their habits and customs, and the geography of the parts of the country through which he passed. He comments extensively on the slave trade, and before leaving Africa his ship acquired a cargo of slaves to be brought to America and sold. Hawkins became blind as a result of a disease acquired during his travels, and he published this book in an effort to support himself. The frontispiece depicts the blind Hawkins seated in a library, recounting the events of his travels to a friend. Some copies of the book are known with an inserted copyright leaf at the end. The work was copyrighted in January 1797 and advertised for sale in the Philadelphia and New York newspapers immediately thereafter, probably indicating that the book was printed and bound prior to being entered for copyright, and the copyright leaf was a later insertion. The narrative was apparently popular, as a second edition was printed in Troy, New York, later in 1797. Evans 32239; Smith, American Travellers Abroad, H-53; Gaskill, Imprints from the Press of Stephen C. Ustick, 57.
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH
65. HENNEPIN, LOUIS. A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, Extending above Four Thousand Miles, between New France and New Mexico.... London: For M. Bentley, J. Tonson [&c.], 1698. [22], 243, [33], 228 p. Engraved fore-title, 5 (of 6) folding plates. Lacking the two maps and one plate. Contemporary calf, early rebacking (hinges and corners worn). Text dampstained. Thus, $2200
First edition in English, the "Tonson" issue. An imperfect copy, lacking the two maps and one plate, of one of the classic accounts of American exploration. Howes H416; European Americana 698/100; Wing H1451. LONGEVITY EXAMINED
66. HOFFMAN, CHRISTIAN. Longevity: Being an Account of Various Persons, who have Lived to an Extraordinary Age, with Several Curious Particulars Respecting their Lives.... New York: Jacob S. Mott, 1798. 120 p. Contemporary mottled sheep. Covers worn and hinges glued; very good internally. $450
First edition. Accounts of those who have lived to a great age, largely extracted from periodicals and newspapers. Includes several Americans. Hoffman was a New Yorker. Evans 33887.
EUROPE LEARNS ABOUT NORTH AMERICA
67. [HORNOT, ANTOINE] Anecdotes Américaines, ou Histoire Abrégée des Principaux Evénements arrivés dans le Nouveau Monde.... Paris: Chez Vincent, 1776. xv, [1], 782 p. Contemporary calf, spine gilt in the French manner. Bottom inch of spine torn, rear endpaper wanting. A good solid copy. $500
First edition. Published just after the outbreak of the American Revolution, the book outlines for the European audience eager to learn more about North America the principal events in America from 1492 to the outbreak of the war. Howes H648.
68. HUME, SOPHIA. An Exhortation to the Inhabitants of the Province of South-Carolina, to Bring their Deeds to the Light of Christ, in their own Consciences .... Dublin: Isaac Jackson, 1754. 164, [4], 52 p. Contemporary sheep (spine worn, hinges cracked but held by cords), old library label. $450
Sophia Hume was a native of South Carolina. After an absence of several years, she returned to that province as a preacher of the Society of Friends. This work is a defense of her religious beliefs. Its first printing was paid for by a subscription of the Philadelphia Meeting of Friends. The work is signed in type at the end: "Charles-Town, in South- Carolina, the 30th, of the Tenth Month, 1747." Bound with Some Memoirs of the Life of John Roberts (Dublin, 1754).
THE MANHEIM CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE, WITH THE GREAT FRONTISPIECE
69. (INDIAN CAPTIVITY). Affecting History of the Dreadful Distresses of Frederic Manheim's Family ... with an Account of the Destruction of the Settlements at Wyoming. Philadelphia: By Henry Sweitzer, for Mathew Carey, 1800. 48 p. Woodcut frontis. Modern half crushed brown levant, spine attractively gilt, by Morrell. A fine, fresh copy, handsomely bound. $4000
Narrative of the captivity by the Canasadaga Indians of Frederic Manheim's family, with the superb frontispiece by early American wood-engraver Peter Rushton Maverick, after a drawing by Philadelphia artist Samuel Folwell, depicting Manheim's sixteen-year-old twin daughters being burned alive, while a circle of frenzied Indians dance around them. Accompanying the Manheim narrative are several other captivity accounts, all "authenticiated [sic] in the most satisfactory manner; some by deposition, and others by the information of persons of unexceptionable credibility." Included are accounts of John Corbly, Isaac Stewart, Massy Harbeson, Peter Williamson, and Jackson Johonnot, as well as a description of the destruction of the frontier settlements at Wyoming, Pennsylvania. The Guthman copy, foxed and dampstained in contemporary wrappers, brought 5100 dollars in 2005. Ayer, Narratives of Captivity among the Indians, 5; Vail, Voice of the Old Frontier, 1223A; Howes H253; Stephens, The Mavericks, 37; Sabin 105689n.
1795 ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF AMERICA, IN FINE CONDITION
70. [JOHNSON, RICHARD]. The History of North America. Containing a Review of the Customs and Manners of the Inhabitants; the First Settlement of the British Colonies, their Rise and Progress ... to the Time of their Becoming United, Free and Independent States. By the Rev. Mr. Cooper [pseud.]. Lansingburgh: Silvester Tiffany, for Thomas Spencer, Albany, 1795. 12mo. [8], 159 p. 6 engraved plates. Contemporary sprinkled sheep. Front hinge a bit scuffed, else a fine copy. $2200
Second American edition of a delightfully illustrated text for adolescents, in remark- ably fine, original condition. While early cataloguers went to great lengths to identify the Reverend Mr. Cooper, and assigned him various given names, he was in reality Richard Johnson (1733 or 4-1793) and he wrote the text for Elizabeth Newbery, who published the first edition in 1789. See M.J.P. Weedon, "Richard Johnson and the Successors to John Newbery," The Library (1949), pp. 25-63. Anthony Haswell, in Bennington, Vermont, printed the first American edition in 1793 for Albany bookseller Thomas Spencer, who also published this second American edition. There were several later American editions, nearly all unillustrated. The illustrations in this edition are crude but wonderfully charming copperplate engravings. The frontispiece, "America Trampling on Oppression," depicts Liberty, a cornucopia at her feet, flanked by pedestals surmounted by profiles of Franklin and Washington. The other engravings are: "Americans Throwing the Cargoes of the Tea Ships into the River at Boston"; "Battle of Bunkers Hill"; "Death of Genl. Montgomery"; "Destruction of the Randolph Frigate"; and "Defeat of DeGrasse." It is quite rare to find an eighteenth-century illustrated American children's book in such fresh original condition. Evans 28480; Rosenbach, Early American Children's Books, 188; Howes C761.
LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION TO THE MISSISSIPPI
71. JOUTEL, HENRI. A Journal of the Last Voyage Perform'd by Monsr. de la Sale, to the Gulph of Mexico, to Find Out the Mouth of the Missisipi River.... London: For A. Bell, B. Lintott, and J. Baker, 1714. 8vo. [2], xxi, [9], 191, 194-205, [5] p. Engraved folding map (short closed tear). Contemporary calf. Extremities rubbed, top of spine a bit worn, else a lovely untouched copy, the text clean and fresh and entirely unfoxed. Peter A. Porter bookplate and Wolfgang Herz label. $15,000 First edition in English; originally published in Paris the previous year. The map is entitled "A New Map of the Country of Louisiana and of Ye River Missisipi in North America..." and depicts the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, parts of Texas, and the eastern coast of America. In the upper corner is a lovely vignette of Niagara Falls. Joutel's journal is one of the best accounts of La Salle's ill-fated expedition to establish a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi River and the short-lived colony in Texas which the party used for two years as a base for further exploration. La Salle was eventually assassinated by some of his own men, and Joutel and others succeeded in returning to Canada. European Americana 714/40; Church 859; Howes J-266(b); Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 79b; Streeter Sale 112.
18TH-CENTURY NEW YORK JUDAICA
72. (JUDAICA). Levi, David. A Defence of the Old Testament, in a Series of Letters Addressed to Thomas Paine. New York: William A. Davis, for Naphtali Judah, bookseller, 1797. 240 p. Contemporary sheep, very skillfully rebacked in period style with original spine label retained. Lower margin of S3 torn away, costing several words, occasional minor spotting, else a very good and attractive copy. $900
First American edition, and one of the first books by a Jewish author to be sold by a Jewish bookseller in America. David Levi (1742-1801) was an English Jew, distinguist Hebraist, translator, and Old Testament scholar. Here he replies to Thomas Paine's deistic Age of Reason. Napthali Judah (1773?-1855) was one of the first Jewish booksellers and publishers in New York, establishing his business in 1795. Rosenbach 114; Evans 32376.
18TH-CENTURY AMERICAN CHILDREN'S BOOK
73. (JUVENILE). [Day, Thomas]. The History of Sandford and Merton. A Work Intended for the Use of Children. Whitehall: Printed for William Young, Philadelphia, 1798. 12mo. 3 vols. in 1. 8, [1], 14-470, [3], 472-697, [1] p. Contemporary sheep (front hinge split, rear beginning to crack). Gathering G foxed, scattered foxing elsewhere, small piece torn from blank margin of 2P5, just touching a letter or two. Contemporary signature of John Hough. 900
"Seventh edition." An important work in the development of the moral tale, reprinted frequently. This edition is quite scarce and is not recorded in Evans or Bristol. Welch 269.5. ESTC records copies in CtY, FU, and MWA.
1799 KENTUCKY SESSION LAWS
74. KENTUCKY. LAWS. [Acts Passed at the First Session of the Eighth General Assembly, for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.... Frankfort: William Hunter, 1800.] [3]-226 p. Lacks title leaf. Later cloth-backed marbled boards, printed paper spine label. Piece torn from corner of K1, side notes cropped on several leaves toward rear, final leaf 2E2 (final page of index) torn and repaired at fore-edge, costing a small amount of text. Embossed early ex-library blindstamp on covers. James Allen's copy, signed on the first page of text. $1400
Laws passed at the December 1799 session of the legislature. Eighteenth-century Kentucky imprints are rarely available in the trade. McMurtrie, Kentucky, 132.
75. KINNE, AARON. A New-Year's Gift, Presented Especially to the Young People in the First Society of Groton, January 1, 1788. And now made Public at their Request. New London: T. Green, 1788. 16 p. Removed. Title a trifle dark, light foxing, but very good. $450
Evans 21189; Johnson 1203.
76. [KNOX, VICESIMUS]. The Spirit of Despotism. Morris-Town: Jacob Mann, 1799. [10], 319 p. Contemporary sheep. Covers a bit warped, a few signatures pulled, else a fine, tight copy. $350
The first book printed in Morristown. Jacob Mann came to Morristown in late 1797 as printer and publisher of the local newspaper. For the year 1798 there is one known separate Jacob Mann imprint, a pamphlet act of the legislature. In 1799 there are but two separate Mann imprints, another small pamphlet and this bound work by Vicesimus Knox. Felcone, New Jersey Books, 121. Evans 35691.
FIRST PRINTING OF BLACKSTONE IN AMERICA, AND THE FIRST LEGAL TREATISE PRINTED IN NEW JERSEY
77. (LAW). Parker, James. Conductor Generalis: or, The Office, Duty and Authority of Justices of the Peace, High-Sheriffs ... Constables, Gaolers ... To which is added, A Treatise on the Law of Descents in Fee-Simple: By William Blackstone.... Woodbridge, in New-Jersey: Printed and sold by James Parker; sold also by John Holt ... in New-York, 1764. 8vo. xvi, 592 p. Contemporary sheep. A worn copy, with extremities of binding chipped and front cover detached. Internally a good copy, with the usual browning. Trimmed a trifle close, with some bottom lines or catchwords cut into; corner of A6 torn off costing a few letters. From the library of John Mehelm (1735-1809), a member of New Jersey's Provincial Congress, Revolutionary War patriot, and justice and surrogate of Hunterdon County. $2200
First edition of the first legal treatise printed in New Jersey, the first printing of Blackstone in America, and one of the most substantial books both written and printed by a colonial American printer. James Parker was a justice of the peace in New Jersey as well as the colony's first printer, having established his press at Woodbridge in 1754. His legal manual was based upon earlier English works of a similar nature, chiefly Burn, but was considerably altered to suit American needs. Blackstone's treatise on descents was the first work of that author to be printed in America. Parker's Conductor Generalis was a shared edition and exists with three variant title page imprints. Bristol B2507; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 211. 78. LINN, WILLIAM. A Funeral Eulogy, Occasioned by the Death of General Washington. Delivered ... before the New-York State Society of the Concinnati. New York: Isaac Collins, 1800. 44 p. Removed. Some minor soiling and staining, chiefly marginal. $150
Evans 37834.
TRAVELS AMONG THE CANADIAN INDIANS
79. LONG, JOHN. Voyages chez Différentes Nations Sauvages de L'Amérique Septentrionale.... Paris: Chez Prault, Fuchs, [1794]. [4], xxxvi, 320 p. Folding map. Modern half calf. A fine, fresh copy. $900
First French edition of Long's Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader, originally published in London in 1791. Long was an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company and spent nearly twenty years traveling extensively and living among among the Canadian Indians. He describes candidly and in considerable detail their customs, manners, and domestic life. The map depicts southern Canada from the Great Lakes north to James Bay and from the Mississippi east to the St. Lawrence. Howes L443; Lande 544; Gagnon I 2144; TPL 4759; Sabin 41879.
80. (MARITIME--INSURANCE). An Act to Incorporate the Boston Marine Insurance Company. Boston: John Russell, [1799]. 13 p. Woodcut of sailing ship on title. Stitched in original plain wrappers. Front endpaper heavily foxed, else near fine. $350
Organized by Stephen Higginson, William Parsons, and William Smith "... to make Insurances upon Vessels, freight and goods, and against captivity of persons, and on the life of any person during his absence by sea...." Evans 35221.
SESSION LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1785-1786
81. MARYLAND. LAWS. Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun ... the Seventh of November ... [1785]. Annapolis: Frederick Green, [1786]. Folio. [152] p. Later cloth-backed boards (very faint embossed stamp on each cover). $450
Laws passed November 1785-March 1786. Wheeler, Maryland, 408; Evans 19770.
SESSION LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1786-1787
82. MARYLAND. LAWS. Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun ... the Sixth of November ... [1786]. Annapolis: Frederick Green, [1787]. Folio. [50] p. Later cloth-backed boards (very faint embossed stamp on each cover). $450 Laws passed November 1786-January 1787. Wheeler, Maryland, 433; Evans 20484.
SESSION LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1787
83. MARYLAND. LAWS. Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun ... the Tenth of April ... [1787]. Annapolis: Frederick Green, [1787]. Folio. [51] p. Later cloth-backed boards (very faint embossed stamp on each cover). $450
Laws passed April-May 1787. Wheeler, Maryland, 434; Evans 20485.
SESSION LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1788
84. MARYLAND. LAWS. Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun ... the Twelfth of May ... [1788]. Annapolis: Frederick Green, [1788]. Folio. [18] p. Later cloth-backed boards (very faint embossed stamp on each cover). Some foxing. $450
Laws passed May 1788. Wheeler, Maryland, 469; Evans 21223.
SESSION LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1789
85. MARYLAND. LAWS. [Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun ... the Second of November ... [1789]. Annapolis: Frederick Green, 1790]. Folio. [90] p. Title page lacking, gathering L foxed. Later cloth-backed boards (very faint embossed stamp on each cover). $150
Laws passed November-December 1789. Wheeler, Maryland, 530; Evans 22640.
SESSION LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1791
86. MARYLAND. LAWS. Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun ... the Seventh of November ... [1791]. Annapolis: Frederick Green, [1792]. Folio. [94] p. Later cloth-backed boards (very faint embossed stamp on each cover). Minor marginal dampstaining, light overall browning. $400
Laws passed May 1788. Minick, Maryland, 73; Evans 24503.
LAWS OF MARYLAND, 1765-1784
87. MARYLAND. LAWS. Laws of Maryland, Made Since M,DCC,LXIII.... Annapolis: Frederick Green, 1787. Folio. [457] p. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Margin of title darkened from leather turn-ins, else a very good, attractive copy. $1500 Laws of Maryland passed 1765 through 1784, including many Revolutionary War laws. Evans 20483; Wheeler, Maryland, 435; Tower 129.
MASSACHUSETTS SESSION LAWS 1692-1726
88. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, of His Majesty's Province of the Massa- chusetts-Bay in New-England. [Bound following:] The Charter Granted ... to the Inhabitants of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Boston: B. Green, for Benjamin Eliot, 1726. Folio. [2], 14, [2], 347, [1], 17 p. Contemporary panelled sheep, the panel formed in blind by a two-line fillet enclosing a single ornamental roll with an ornament stamped diagonally at each corner, the whole enclosed within a blind two-line fillet around the perimeter of the covers, spine undecorated. The title page of the Charter is mounted and with the upper three lines and upper part of the border in early pen facsimile, F3 with a tear at inner margin (no loss), few short marginal tears, free endpapers wanting, otherwise very good and clean. The period binding is well worn and chipped at the extremities, there is an early library blindstamp in the upper corner of each cover, and the front hinge is split but the cover is very solidly held by the cords. Several signatures of Elkanah Leonard, the earliest dated 1727. $3000
The session laws of Massachusetts passed between 1692 and 1726, as issued with the charter of the province, in a period binding. Cushing, Massachusetts Laws, 343, 344; Evans 2762.
COMPILATION OF MASSACHUSETTS LAWS: 1742
89. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Boston: Samuel Kneeland and Timothy Green, 1742. Folio. [2], 337 p. Later cloth-backed boards. Gathering D dampstained with a repair at the bottom costing several letters. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $400
The charter of Massachusetts, which was normally bound in front of most eighteenth- century Massachusetts law compilations, is not present here, but two additional session laws, comprising gathering 2V and paginated 335-337, are bound in at the end. Cushing, Massachusetts Laws, 440; Evans 5003, 5236.
SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1797
90. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts: Begun ... the Twenty-Fifth Day of January ... 1797. [colophon: [Boston:] Young & Minns, [1797]. Folio. 41-120 p. Caption title. Uncut, and stitched in the original blue paper wrappers. Dampstain on last leaf and wrappers. $250
Laws passed February-March 1797. Evans 32440. SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1797
91. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, Begun ... the Thirty-First Day of May ... 1797. [colophon:] [Boston:] Young & Minns, [1797]. Folio. 121-154 p. Caption title. Later cloth-backed boards. $275
Laws passed May-June 1797. Evans 32441.
SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1796
92. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts: Begun ... the Twenty-Seventh Day of May ... 1795.... [colophon:] [Boston:] Adams & Larkin, 1796. Folio. 523-582 p. Caption title. Uncut, and stitched as issued. Outer leaves dampstained. $250
Laws passed January-February 1796. Evans 30756.
SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1796
93. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts: Begun ... the Seventh Day of November ... 1796. [colophon:] Boston: Young & Minns, [1796]. Folio. 8 [i.e., 25]-40 p. Caption title. Later cloth-backed boards. Last three leaves with holes in text filled by pen facsimile. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $250
Laws passed November 1796. Evans 30758.
THREE SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1794-1795
94. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, Begun [May 1793; May 1794; May 1794 and continued by adjournment]. [Boston: Adams and Larkin, 1794-95.] Folio. 337-403 p.; 405-434 p.; 435-491 p. Caption titles. Three session laws bound together in later cloth-backed boards. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $300
Laws passed January-February 1794; June 1794; January-February 1795. Evans 27277, 27278, 29034.
SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1793
95. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts: Begun ... the Twenty-Ninth Day of May ... 1793. [Boston: Thomas Adams, 1793.] Folio. 292- 328 p. Caption title. First leaf in skillful pen facsimile, final leaf with hole filled by pen facsimile. Later cloth-backed boards. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $200 Laws passed June 1793. Evans 25776.
SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1792
96. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts: Begun ... the Thirtieth Day of May ... 1792. [colophon:] Boston: Thomas Adams, 1792. Folio. 191-222 p. Caption title. Hole in first leaf filled with neat pen facsimile, small hole in lastr leaf. Later cloth-backed boards. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $250
Laws passed June 1792. Evans 24517.
TWO SESSION LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1790-1791
97. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Acts and Laws, Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, Begun [May 1790; May 1791]. [colophons:] Boston: Thomas Adams, 1791. Folio. 75-105 p.; 107-120 p. Caption titles. Two session laws bound together in later cloth-backed boards. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $250
Laws passed September 1790-March 1791; June 1791. Evans 23548, 23547.
BOUND VOLUME OF NINETEEN PAMPHLET LAWS, 1779-1785
98. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Bound volume of nineteen Massachusetts pamphlet session laws passed between April 14, 1779, and July 2, 1785. Boston: Benjamin Edes & Comp'y / Benjamin Edes & Sons / Adams & Nourse, 1779-1785. Folio. Caption titles, as issued, generally with printer's imprint in a colophon. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Varying paper stocks, as expected, a few of which are foxed, else in fine condition, as described below. $1800
Contains numerous laws relating to the Revolutionary War. Eighteenth-century pamphlet session laws are very rare in the trade, as they were normally discarded once the next compiled laws was published, and those that survived have long since gone into institutions. Evans 16344, 16345, 16346 (both sessions), 16837 (both sessions, first lacks 4G22 and second 4M ), 17213, 17214, 17215, 17589, 17590, 17591, 17592 (lacks table at end), 18022, 18588, 18589, 18590, 19078, 19079; Cushing, Massachusetts Laws, 1065, 1068, 1082, 1090, 1099, 1110.
MASSACHUSETTS TEMPORARY LAWS, 1736-1763
99. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Temporary Acts and Laws of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Boston: Green and Russell, 1763. Folio. [2], x, [4], viii, 179 p. Later cloth-backed boards. Hole in first two leaves, costing a few letters in the imprint and several words on the next leaf. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $350 A useful compilation of temporary laws--laws that were passed for a given period of time. Cushing, Massachusetts Laws, 695; Evans 9430.
MASSACHUSETTS TEMPORARY LAWS, 1736-1755
100. MASSACHUSETTS. LAWS. Temporary Acts and Laws of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Boston: S. Kneeland, 1755. Folio. [2], 8, 166 p. Later cloth-backed boards. Last few leaves dampstained, title lightly stained, name torn from top margin of title page, else very good. Very faint embossed stamp on covers. $400
A useful compilation of temporary laws--laws that were passed for a given period of time. Cushing, Massachusetts Laws, 570; Evans 7467.
INCREASE MATHER SERMON: BOSTON, 1718
101. MATHER, INCREASE. A Sermon Wherein is Shewed, I. That the Ministers of the Gospel Need ... Preached at Roxbury, October 29. 1718 when Mr. Thomas Walter was Ordained a Pastor in that Church.... Boston: By S. Kneeland, for J. Edwards, 1718. [2], ii, i, 2-35, [1] p. Later full calf (spine label missing). Bottom margin cut into, with loss of the last line of the imprint on the title page and several last lines within the text. Thus, $800
Increase Mather's sermon at the ordination of his grandson, Thomas Walter. The right hand of fellowship, pp. 27-35, by Cotton Mather. Evans 1982; Holmes, Increase Mather, 118.
102. (MORAVIANS). Great Britain. Laws. Anno Regni Georgii II ... An Act for Encouraging the People known by the Name of Unitas Fratrum or United Brethren, to Settle in his Majesty's Colonies in America. London: By Thomas Baskett, and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett, 1749. Fol. [2], 635-638 p. Removed. Fine. $225
Encouraging the emigration of Moravians to America.
THE FIRST AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY: 1789
103. MORSE, JEDIDIAH. The American Geography; or, A View of the Present Situation of the United States of America. Elizabeth Town: Shepard Kollock, 1789. xii, 534, [3] p. 2 folding maps. Contemporary sheep, very skillfully rebacked in correct period style, rear endpaper sympathetically replaced. Light foxing and occasional browning throughout, as usual with early American paper, a few short splits and one map tear skillfully mended. Twentieth- century owner's stamp at the foot of the dedication page and on the verso of one map. Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes bookplate. $5500
The first American geography, and an important early American cartographical work. Jedidiah Morse was a congregationalist minister who in 1784 published a school text, Geography Made Easy. Two years later, he began work on a comprehensive American geography. He sought assistance from many distinguished Americans, including Washington and Franklin. Governor William Livingston of New Jersey took considerable interest in the work and made numerous contributions to the text. Morse returned his thanks to Livingston by dedicating the book to him. The maps were engraved by Amos Doolittle, who compiled the map of the northern states. The map of the southern states was compiled by Joseph Purcell and depicts the "New State of Franklin" between present Tennessee and North Carolina. This copy is complete including the errata leaf and directions to the binder, leaf 3X4, and the leaf "Corrections respecting France" tipped in at the rear. For an essay on the compilation and publication history of this important book, see Felcone, New Jersey Books, 147. Howes M840; Wheat & Brun 149, 491.
SECOND EDITION OF THE FIRST AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY
104. MORSE, JEDIDIAH. The American Geography; or, A View of the Present Situation of the United States of America.... London: For John Stockdale, 1792. xvi, 536 p. 2 folding maps, folding table. Contemporary mottled calf, skillfully rebacked in period style. Both maps with a few neat and unobtrusive early repairs (fold strengthening) on verso, else a fine copy-- clean and entirely unfoxed. $2800
Second edition of the first American geography, originally printed in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1789. The engraved maps depict the northern and southern parts of what then comprised the United States, the latter including the "New State of Franklin." Howes M840.
NEW ENGLAND IN DARKNESS AND GLOOM
105. (NEW ENGLAND). Elijah's Mantle. A Faithful Testimony to New-England ... Highly Seasonable to be Offered unto the People, now succeeding in the New-English Colonies ... at this Gloomy Day of Darkness and Trial.... Boston: Nathaniel Coverly, 1774. 31 p. Later half calf. Occasional light foxing, endpapers discolored, but very good. Roderick Terry bookplate. $1200
Contributions by Jonathan Mitchel, John Higginson, William Stoughton, and Increase Mather. Editorship is ascribed to William Cooper in a ms. note in the MHi copy; also ascribed to Cotton Mather. The work was published in Boston in 1722 and here re-issued on the eve of the Revolution. Evans 13445.
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD LAWS OF NEW JERSEY
106. NEW JERSEY. LAWS. Acts of the Council and General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, from the Establishment of the Present Government, and Declaration of Independence, to the end of ... December, 1783; with the Constitution Prefixed ... By Peter Wilson. Trenton: Isaac Collins, 1784. Folio. x, 389, [1], 28, 4, 4, 30 p. Early decorated paper-covered boards, later calf spine, leather spine label (worn at extremities). Title leaf somewhat soiled and dampstained, marginal dampstain on next few leaves, the usual foxing and browning of some gatherings as found in all copies, small piece torn from the top blank margin of 3G2, without loss. George S. Woodhull's copy. $900
A compilation of New Jersey laws passed between 1776 and 1783, and the work that updates Samuel Allinson's compilation of 1776. A great many of the laws pertain to the American Revolution. For a detailed account of the evolution and printing history of Wilson's Laws, see Felcone, New Jersey Books, 161-2. Evans 18632.
LAWS OF NEW JERSEY: 1776
107. NEW JERSEY. LAWS. Acts of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey, from the Surrender of the Government to Queen Anne, on the 17th Day of April, in the Year of Our Lord 1702, to the 14th Day of January 1776 ... By Samuel Allinson.... Burlington: Isaac Collins, 1776. Folio. viii, 493, [1], 6, 6, 4, 4, 3, [1], 15 p. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period style. The usual foxing and browning present in all copies, occasional minor spotting, else a very good, desirable copy in a handsome and correct period-style binding. $1000
A compilation of all the laws in force in New Jersey in 1776. Though begun several years earlier, publication was delayed by Governor William Franklin's constant quarrels with the assembly, the outbreak of hostilities, and, finally, as Allinson notes in his preface, the inability to obtain sufficient paper, "... the Want of [which] stop'd the Press several Weeks at sundry Times, until more could be manufactured." The quality of the paper varied considerably, and all copies exhibit differing degrees of foxing and browning from gathering to gathering. There are several contemporary manuscript corrections, also present in all copies and probably done in the printer's shop. For a detailed account of the evolution and printing history of Allinson's Laws, see Felcone, New Jersey Books, 158. Evans 14911.
108. NEW JERSEY. LAWS. The Acts of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey, from the Time of the Surrender of the Government ... to this Present Time ... By Samuel Nevill.... [Philadelphia]: William Bradford, 1752. Sm. fol. [4], 507 p. [with:] The Acts of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey, from the Year 1753 ... where the first volume ends, to the Year 1761 ... By Samuel Nevill ... Volume the Second. Woodbridge: James Parker, 1761. Sm. fol. [4], x, [2], 368, [4], 369-401, [1], 56, 64 p. Contemporary sheep (v.1) and contemporary reversed sheep (v.2), both very skillfully rebacked in period style. First two leaves of v.1 neatly guarded in the blank margins, the usual foxing and browning common to early American paper, else an unusually nice set in contemporary bindings. $2500
The second compilation of the laws of New Jersey (following that of John Kinsey in 1732), assembled by Samuel Nevill with the assistance in the first volume of Philip Kearny. The second volume is the first law compilation to be printed in New Jersey, James Parker having set up the colony's first permanent printing press at Woodbridge in 1754. For a detailed study of the evolution and printing of Nevill's Laws, see Felcone, New Jersey Books, 155 and 157. Evans 6893, 8947.
THE GRANTS AND CONCESSIONS: A REMARKABLE NEW JERSEY ASSOCIATION COPY
109. NEW JERSEY. LAWS. The Grants, Concessions, and Original Constitutions of the Province of New-Jersey. The Acts Passed During the Proprietary Governments, and other Material Transactions ... By Aaron Leaming and Jacob Spicer. Philadelphia: W. Bradford, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty for the Province of New-Jersey, [1758]. Pot folio. [4], 763 p. Modern calf, superbly executed in period style. The usual sporatic light foxing common to early American paper, else an unusually fine, fresh copy. In the eighteenth century the book was owned by John Smyth (1722-1786), Perth Amboy resident, member of the governor's council, and treasurer of East Jersey. His signature is on the title page. In the nineteenth century the book was owned by William A. Whitehead (1810-1884), New Jersey's first scholarly historian and one of the founders of the New Jersey Historical Society. Tipped in at the front of the volume are two excellent colonial New Jersey letters, one from Aaron Leaming and the other from Jacob Spicer, each sent to Doctor Lewis Johnson of Perth Amboy. The Leaming letter, dated 20 March 1754, concerns a plat Leaming is making of the Middle Precinct of Cape May prior to the purchase by the inhabitants of that precinct of the West Jersey Society's vacant lands in their district. The Spicer letter, dated Cape May, 7 September 1759, concerns a survey of lands at Tuckahoe, and other matters. $3500
A remarkable and unique New Jersey association copy of the classic compilation of the foundation documents of colonial New Jersey from 1664 to 1702, accompanied by the session laws from 1668 to 1701. Authorized by the legislature in 1752, the work was assembled over the next six years chiefly by Samuel Nevill and Samuel Smith, and was seen through the press by Aaron Leaming and Jacob Spicer. Of all the compilations of New Jersey laws from the 1752 Nevill volume onward, the "Grants and Concessions," or "Leaming and Spicer," as it is commonly called, is the most difficult to find. See Felcone, New Jersey Books, 156, for a detailed ten-page study of this highly important colonial New Jersey book. Evans 8205.
WILLIAM PATERSON'S REVISION OF THE LAWS OF NEW JERSEY
110. NEW JERSEY. LAWS. Laws of the State of New Jersey, Revised ... by William Paterson. New Brunswick: Abraham Blauvelt, 1800. Lg. folio. [2], xxi, [1], 455, [33] p. Modern calf- backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period antique style. The usual minor foxing and spotting, but a fine copy in a correct period-style binding. $1000
A complete revision and compilation of the laws of New Jersey, begun in 1792 while Paterson was governor of the state and completed while he was associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Consolidating the existing statutory law with the Common Law of England, Paterson essentially re-wrote much of the state's law. The work is a monument both to Paterson's extraordinary legal mind and to his remarkable abilty to produce and complete such a complex undertaking while serving successively as governor and Supreme Court justice. See Felcone, New Jersey Books, 168, for a detailed nine-page study of the evolution of this landmark New Jersey book. Evans 38064.
THE "CHEAP" EDITION
111. NEW JERSEY. LAWS. Laws of the State of New-Jersey; Revised and Published, under the Authority of the Legislature, by William Paterson. Newark: Matthias Day, 1800. Lg. 8vo. [2], 455, [1], xxi, [1], 2, 46, [1] p. Modern full calf in antique style, red and black spine labels. Minor marginal spotting at rear of text, else a fine copy. $900
The octavo edition of Paterson's Laws, printed by Matthias Day from sheets of the folio edition as they came from Abraham Blauvelt's press. Blauvelt's folio was an essential but expensive book, and Day saw a market for a less costly edition, printed on super royal paper in octavo format. The text on each page was nearly identical to that in the folio edition, so that a citation to one edition was also a citation to the other. For a detailed description of the evolution and printing of this edition, see Felcone, New Jersey Books, 169. This copy contains the original title page, with the horse's head in the state arms facing to the left. When the remainder of the edition was purchased from Day by Newark printer and bookseller William Tuttle in 1814, Tuttle printed a new title page, dated 1800 but most easily identified by a right-facing horse's head. Evans 38063.
JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK ASSEMBLY, 1691-1743
112. NEW YORK (COLONY). Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Colony of New-York. Began the 9th Day of April, 1691; and Ended the 27th of September, 1743. New York: Hugh Gaine, 1764. Folio. iv, 664, 667-840, [2] p. Contemporary sheep (worn at the extremities, scuffed, front hinge cracking, wanting front binder's blanks). Scattered foxing and browning, varying from gathering to gathering as usual with early American books, but a good clean copy. $1200
Volume 1, complete in itself. A second volume, covering the years 1744 through 1765, was published in 1766. An invaluable insight into colonial New York politics. Unlike the volumes of compiled laws, which merely present the laws themselves, the journals of legislative bodies record the daily, detailed proceedings, and the votes, of the assembly. One sees proposed and defeated legislation, political factions, and the entire legislative process. Given the turbulence of early New York politics, this is a most important resource. Evans 9756.
NEW YORK'S SONS OF LIBERTY PULL DOWN GEORGE III: 1776
113. (NEW YORK--AMERICAN REVOLUTION). Die Zerstörung der Königlichen Bild Säule zu New Yorck | La Destruction de la Statue Royale a Nouvelle Yorck. Augsburg, [ca. 1776]. Hand-colored reverse etching. 11.8 x 16.4 in. Neatly framed and glazed. One minor tear into caption at bottom, light dampstain at bottom extending slightly into image, else very good, with original hand coloring. Neatly framed and glazed. $3800
A famous Revolutionary War print, drawn by François Xav. Habermann for Collection de Prospects, depicting the Sons of Liberty pulling down the statue of George III in New York. Two crude ladders hold several young men swinging heavy hammers, while a group of men on the ground, with ropes around the neck and body of the statue, pull it to the ground. A large crowd of people, in the street and at windows, witness the spectacle. "A statue of the King had been erected on the Bowling Green after the repeal of the Stamp Act ... in the excitement engendered by the Declaration of Independence and its adoption by the Provincial Congress of New York on 9 July 1776 the royal statue was pulled down. The statue of the Earl of Chatham, a strong advocate of reconciliation, was not touched. This destruction was both a gesture of patriotic triumph and one of defiance, in a city politically divided and threatened with occupation."--BL, War of American Independence, 97; cf. Cresswell 263. For recent scholarship, see Christopher Pierce, "Practicing Peeping! New Notes and Comments on the Collection des Prospects of New York City," Imprint 32 (2007), pp. 10-24.
NEW YORKERS ADVOCATE LIBERTY: 1775
114. (NEW YORK--AMERICAN REVOLUTION). No Placemen, Pensioners, Ministerial Hirelings, Popery, nor Arbitrary Power! To the Friends and Freeholders of the City and County of New-York ... [signed:] Phileleutheros. New-York, 13th March, 1775. [New York: John Holt, 1775.] Broadside, 15.3 x 7.6 in. Two nickel-sized pieces missing from blank margins (one costing three letters), one long crease and a few wrinkles, narrow margins, light browning. Inlaid to a larger sheet; neatly matted and framed. $9000
A dramatic 1775 broadside by New York's revolutionary Committee of Observation calling for New Yorkers to elect deputies to a provincial congress for the purpose of choosing representatives to the Continental Congress. Beneath the large-type headline the text begins: "At this critical and truly alarming Time, when every Thing which we hold dear to us as Englishmen and Freemen, is on the point of being wrested from us, by a vindictive, arbitrary, and rapacious Minister ... if you do not join Heart and Hand, and exert yourselves like Men, to prevent the horrid Train of Evils which are now like a mighty Torrent, rushing in upon us...." The author, who signs himself "Phileleutheros," urges New Yorkers to heed the Committee of Observation's call for a meeting to elect a provincial congress, adding that "the Minions and Tools of Power [i.e., Loyalists], with their adherents, assembled last Monday at the Exchange, with a View of opposing the Nomination of Deputies to serve in Provincial Congress...." A rare broadside from Revolutionary War New York. ESTC locates two copies: NHi and NN. Evans 14399.
115. THE NEW-JERSEY ALMANACK for the Year of our Lord 1786 ... By Timothy Trueman. Trenton: Isaac Collins, [1785]. 12mo. [40] p. Anatomy woodcut. Untrimmed and stitched, but stitching perished and last few gatherings loose. Some soiling, particularly on first few leaves and outer rear leaf, else very good. $750 Eighteenth-century New Jersey almanacs are now seldom seen on the market. Evans 19276; Drake 5133; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 182.
FIREFIGHTING IN NEWPORT IN 1762
116. (NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND). Rhode Island. Laws, &c. An Act, in addition to an Act ... Providing in case of fire breaking out in the town of Newport, and for the more speedy extinguishing thereof, and for preserving ef [sic] goods endangered thereby. [Newport: Ann Franklin, 1762.] Broadsheet, 2 p. 11.5 x 7.4 in. Fold lines, faint soiling, else very good. $4000
A very rare broadsheet printing of an act passed at the June 1762 session of the Rhode Island legislature setting out in detail the provisions enacted to prevent and fight fires in Newport. After naming a committee of Newport citizens whose duty it was to "procure for the use of said town, six fire-hooks, suitable for pulling down houses, &c. and the same number of ladders of a convenient length," the law goes on to specify the task of individual residents: "... every house in the said town of Newport, shall, within six months from and after the rising of this assembly, be furnished with one good leather bucket, with the owners name painted at large thereon, and with a ladder that shall reach from the ground to the top of said house...." A committee of inspectors is named, stiff fines are established for failure to comply, and provisions are enacted for pulling down or blowing up houses. This item was formerly part of the extraordinary Roderick Terry library, sold in 1934. There is only one other known copy, in the Rhode Island State Library. A superb colonial American firefighting document. Alden 261; Bristol B2321.
117. NIXON, WILLIAM. Prosody made Easy. Wherein, the Rules are more Brief, Comprehensive and Perspicuous ... that a Child Learning the Declensions, Moods and Tenses, may at the same Time be Taught ... the Method of Scanning Horace's Odes.... Philadelphia: By William Spotswood [et al], 1786. xvi [i.e., xiii], [3], 36 p. Contemporary marbled boards. Spine broken, else nice. $250
Nixon, formerly principal of the Dublin Academy, became a teacher in Charleston, South Carolina. Evans 19867.
COMPILED LAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA: 1794/95
118. NORTH CAROLINA. LAWS. The Acts of the General Assembly of the State of North- Carolina, Passed During the Sessions held in the Years 1791, 1792, 1793 and 1794. Newbern: Francois-X. Martin, 1795. [Bound with:] A Collection of the Private Acts of the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, from the Year 1715, to the Year 1790, Inclusive, Now in Force and Use. Newbern: Francois-Xavier Martin, 1794. 4to. [4], 181, [6] p.; [6], 249, [3] p. Lacks folding plate. Modern calf-backed marbled paper-covered boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Top and bottom margins generally ample but the text on a few pages is slightly cropped. Overall light tanning of most pages. $2800 The scarce François-Xavier Martin compilation of the private and public laws of North Carolina in force in 1794. A good copy, in a correct period-stlye binding, though lacking the plate between pages 48 and 49 of the first section. Evans 27419, 29221.
LAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA, 1715-1790
119. NORTH CAROLINA. LAWS. Laws of the State of North-Carolina. Published ... by James Iredell. Edenton: Hodge & Wills, 1791. Folio. [4], 712, xxi, [3] p. Modern calf- backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Short marginal tear on 6L2, edges of title darkened from leather turn-ins, expected light foxing and toning, but a very good copy, in a correct period-style binding. $3500
A compilation of all the laws of North Carolina from 1715 through 1790, assembled by the noted North Carolina jurist James Iredell. Includes an extensive index. Evans 23641; Tower 639.
EBENEZER ZANE LAYS OUT LAND IN OHIO TERRITORY IN 1796
120. (OHIO). U.S. Laws, &c. ... An Act to Authorize Ebenezer Zane to Locate Certain Lands in the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio. [Philadelphia: Francis Childs, 1796.] Broadsheet (11 3/3 x 7 7/8 in.), printed on both sides. Signed in ink at the conclusion by Timothy Pickering as secretary of state. Mounting traces and a few small tears at extreme left margin, horizontal fold marks, else near fine. $2500
A grant to the noted pioneer Ohio settler Ebenezer Zane of three one-mile square tracts of land, one each on the Muskingum, Hockhocking, and Scioto rivers. In return, Zane was to open a road from Wheeling to Limestone, Kentucky, (part of present-day routes U.S. 22 and Ohio 159) and establish ferries where the road crossed the three rivers. Today, these tracts represent the start of the towns of Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe. The paper is watermarked "Delaware" and was made at William Young's Delaware Paper Mills in New Castle County, Delaware. Preceding the Ebenezer Zane act on the same sheet is an "Act Authorizing the Erection of a Light-House on Cape Cod, in the State of Massachusetts." This is undoubtedly the Provincetown light, as it refers also to a concurrent change in the Plymouth harbor light on Gurnet-Head, a short distance away. 4th Congress, 1st Session, 17 May 1796. Bristol B9754. ESTC records only two copies: MWA and PPRF.
121. PAINE, [ROBERT TREAT]. The Ruling Passion: An Occasional Poem ... Spoken ... in the Chapel of the University, Cambridge, July 20, 1797. By Thomas Paine. Boston: Manning & Loring, for the author, 1797. 32 p. Later wrappers. Half morocco slipcase. $200
First edition of this American poem. Robert Treat Paine was christened Thomas but changed his name in 1801 to that of his deceased brother. Wegelin 302; Evans 32634. COMMON SENSE
122. PAINE, THOMAS. Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America.... London: For J. Ridgway, 1791. 88 p. Removed. Considerably dampstained, thus good only. $350
New edition. Gimbel CS-61; Howes P17.
COMMON SENSE
123. PAINE, THOMAS. Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America.... London: For H. D. Symonds, 1792. 36 p. Removed. Very good. $400
New edition. Gimbel CS-73; Howes P17.
124. PAINE, THOMAS. The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance. Paris, Prin- ed; London: Reprinted for D.I. Eaton, 1796. 32 p. Removed. Faint marginal dampstaining. $250
So-called "fourteenth edition," but probably an exaggeration on the part of Eaton. The work was, however, extremely popular, and did pass through several printings.
PAINE'S RIGHTS OF MAN PRINTED IN COPENHAGEN
125. PAINE, THOMAS. Die Rechte des Menschen. Kopenhagen: Christ. Gottl. Proft, 1793. 8vo. 3 vols. in 1. xviii, 253, [1] p.; xxxii, 199, [3] p.; 138 p. Engraved port. of Paine on first two title pages. Contemporary paper-covered boards. A very good, clean copy. $750
Second improved edition. German translation of The Rights of Man.
PAINE'S RIGHTS OF MAN AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
126. PAINE, THOMAS. Droits de l'Homme; en Reponse a l'Attaque de M. Burke sur la Révolution Françoise ...Avec des Notes et une nouvelle Préface de l'Auteur. Paris: Chez F. Buisson, Mai 1791. xii, 227 p. Contemporary mottled sheep, gilt in the French manner. Light dampstain at blank corners of second half of text, extremities of covers a bit scuffed, but a clean, tight, very attractive copy in a contemporary binding. $2500
First edition in French, and the first edition of the text published for the very audience which inspired the book. Paine wrote Rights of Man in response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Paine's work, first printed in late February 1791, set out the fundamental and inviolable principles of human rights. This first printing was suppressed immediately after publication, and relatively few copies escaped destruction. Later British printings, though still sensational at the time, contained a toned-down text. The French text, printed less than three months after the first edition, contains not only the original text, but also a new preface written by Paine specifically for this edition. There were two printings by Buisson in May 1791, of unknown priority. Printing and the Mind of Man 241; Howes P31.
127. PAINE, THOMAS. A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal on the Affairs of North- America. In which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America are Corrected and Cleared up. London: For C. Dilly, 1782. [iii]-viii, 76 p. Later half calf. Wanting half-title, else a near fine copy. $475
First English edition. Originally printed in Philadelphia earlier in the year. Howes P25.
128. PAINE, THOMAS. Prospects on the War and Paper Currency. London: James Ridgway, 1793. viii, 68 p. Removed. Dampstaining throughout, but predominantly in the margins. Withal, a good copy, with the half-title. $250
"Second edition, corrected." First published in 1787 as an attempt by Paine to mobilize popular support in England against entering into a war with Holland. It was reprinted here, in the aftermath of that war, to prove, once again, that Paine was right.
129. (PAINE, THOMAS). [Combe, William]. A Word in Season to the Traders and Manufac- urers of Great Britain. Sixth Edition. Edinburgh: William Cranch, 1792. 22 p. Removed. A fine copy. $175
Combe, who signs himself "A True-Born Englishman," attacks Thomas Paine, Demo- racy, and "these new-fangled doctrines of the rights of man."
130. PATTEN, WILLIAM. The Vanity of Man as Mortal, and the Durableness of the Word of the Lord: Illustrated, in a Sermon .... Hartford: Ebenezer Watson, 1771. 28 p. Modern half morocco. Very nice. $275
Evans 12173.
PENN'S ACCOUNT OF THE QUAKERS
131. PENN, WILLIAM. A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers.... London: By Mary Hinde, 1769. 12mo. [10], 140, [6] p. Contemporary sheep. Extremities scuffed, but clean and tight. $300
Seventh edition of a classic Penn work, first printed in 1694. 132. PENN, WILLIAM. No Cross, No Crown. A Discourse Shewing the Nature and Disci- pline of the Holy Cross of Christ.... Philadelphia: Jacob Johnson & Co., 1796. 358 p. Contem-orary mottled calf. Foxing, else a fine copy. With the 18th century printed book label of Joseph Wills [of Rancocas, New Jersey]. $150
Evans 30972.
133. (PENN, WILLIAM). Muggleton, Lodowick. The Answer to William Penn, Quaker, his Book, entitled, The new Witnesses Proved old Hereticks.... [N.p., n.d., but London, 1753?] 4to. iv, 147 p. Early calf-backed marbled boards (worn). Two short words clipped from text, else a good copy. $275
SESSION LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1781-1785: CLEMENT BIDDLE'S COPY
134. PENNSYLVANIA. LAWS. Laws Enacted in the Sixth [-Ninth] General Assembly of the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ... Vol. II. Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers [and Thomas Bradford], 1782-1785. Folio. 254, [3], 256-270, [3], 272-362, 362-365, 362-368, [6], 372-399, [1], ii, [1], 402-587, [1], iv, [1], 590-704, iii p. Contemporary sheep-backed marbled paper-covered boards, very skillfully rebacked in period style. Boards rubbed, paper defect on 8G2, paper varying widely between gatherings from fresh and white to foxed to moderately toned. Withal, a very attractive copy. Clement Biddle's copy, signed by him in several places. $2200
A bound volume of Pennsylvania session laws, from the first sitting of the sixth session in 1781 through the third sitting of the ninth session in 1785. Includes a number of Revolutionary War-related laws. The volume is from the library of Clement Biddle (1740- 1814), Revolutionary War soldier and Philadelphia merchant. Being Evans 17659-17662, 18094-18096, 18681-18683, 19160-19161; Tower Collection 775-786.
DALLAS' LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1700-1801, COMPLETE IN FOUR VOLUMES
135. PENNSYLVANIA. LAWS. Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from the Fourteenth Day of October, One Thousand Seven Hundred.... Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1797-93-95, and Lancaster: Francis Bailey, 1801. Folio. 4 vols. Later neat tan law buckram, red and black leather spine labels. Sporatic toning of the text, as usual with early American paper stocks, some dampstaining at the top of vol. 3, else a fine, clean set. $1000
Compiled by Alexander James Dallas and complete in four volumes. Contains the laws of Pennsylvania from 1700 through 1801. Volumes 3-4 are actually the session laws as originally issued, bound up with collective title pages and indexes. Evans 32655, 34331, 29291; S&S 1121; Tower 801.
1798 PHILADELPHIA DIRECTORY 136. (PENNSYLVANIA--DIRECTORY). The Philadelphia Directory for 1798: Containing the Names, Occupations, and Places of Abode of the Citizens . . . By Cornelius William Stafford. Philadelphia: Printed for the editor, by William W. Woodward, 1798. 166, [2], 77, [2] p. Nineteenth-century half morocco, rebacked retaining original spine. Title page browned and stained with evidence of former cellophane tape, corners replaced, text with some browning and staining. Bookplate. A complete and respectable copy, with an unattrac- tive title page, and priced accordingly. $1500
The rear matter includes the full text of the Constitution and an account of the Yellow Fever epidemic. Evans 34593.
137. THE PLAIN QUESTION upon the Present Dispute with our American Colonies.... London: J. Wilkie, 1776. 24 p. Stitched as issued. Fine. $350
Fourth edition. Why would the colonies want to rebel from so benevolent a reign as George III and the British parliament? Adams, American Controversy, 76-112d; Howes P408.
138. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. PRESBYTERY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. Rules Established by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, for their own Government; and recommended ... to the Observation of their Churches. Together with a Pastoral Letter, addressed to all the Churches .... New Brunswick: A. Blauvelt, 1800. 30 p. Later half morocco (front hinge rubbed). A nice copy. $300
Evans 38317; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 219.
139. PRINCIPLES OF POLITENESS, and of Knowing the World. By the late Lord Chesterfield ... To which is now first annexed A Father's Legacy to his Daughters: By the late Dr. Gregory ... The whole admirably calculated for the improvement of youth.... Portsmouth [N.H.]: By Melcher and Osborne, 1786. 143, [1] p. Contemporary boards (worn); rebacked in modern cloth with leather label. Faint dampstain, else very good. $150
Evans 20003.
140. RAYNAL, GUILLAUME T.F. Révolution de L'Amérique.... A Londres [i.e., Paris?], 1781. xiv, [2], 183 p. Port. Contemporary mottled calf, spine richly gilt in the French manner. A handsome copy. $275
This work first appeared in the Geneva, 1780, revision of Raynal's Histoire Philosophique et Politique, after which it went through several separate printings. Paine's reply to Raynal is well known. Howes R85; Adams, American Controversy, 81-59b.
LAWS OF RHODE ISLAND, 1745-1752 141. RHODE ISLAND. Acts and Laws of His Majesty's Colony of Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantations, in New-England, in America. From Anno 1745, to Anno 1752. Newport: J. Franklin, 1752. Fol. [8], 110 p. Contemporary marbled paper wrappers, recently bound in lovely full calf, antique. A fine, fresh copy inside and out. $2800
Laws of the Rhode Island colony from 1745 through 1752, being a continuation of the compilation of 1745. The printer was Benjamin Franklin's nephew, James Franklin, Jun. Alden 128, Evans 6919.
LAWS OF RHODE ISLAND, 1798-1800
142. RHODE ISLAND. LAWS. Public Laws of the State of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Passed Since the Session of the General Assembly in January, A. D. 1798. Newport: H. & O. Farnsworth, [1799 and later]. 8vo. 49 p. Later cloth-backed boards, printed paper spine label. Small piece torn from top of title page, costing "ws" in "Laws," scattered foxing. $300
Laws passed at the sessions from May 1798 through May 1800, consisting of gatherings [A]44, B , and C1 with the title page, paginated [1]-18 and probably printed in 1799, and subsequent session laws paginated 19-49. See Alden 1644 et sq., which attempts to explain the publication history of the original 18-page edition and the subsequent printings of later laws. One hundred copies of each were printed.
1799 NEWPORT MARITIME INSURANCE COMPANY
143. (RHODE ISLAND). Rhode Island. Laws, &c. ... An Act to Incorporate the Newport Insurance Company. [Newport: H. & O. Farnsworth, 1799.] 12mo. 10 p. + final blank B2. Fully untrimmed, as issued; in a neatly lettered Gaylord binder. Usual light foxing, else a fine copy. $1000
An early American insurance company, incorporated by several of the leading merchants of Newport "for the insurance of vessels and all other subjects of risque." ESTC records just one copy, at MWA; Alden located another copy at RNHi. Alden 1643; Evans 35970, 36215.
144. RIMIUS, HEINRICH. A Candid Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Herrnhuters, Commonly Call'd Moravians or Unitas Fratrum, with a Short Account of their Doctrines, Drawn from their own Writings .... London: For A. Linde, 1753. [7], 4-16, 139, [1], xxxviii p. Removed. Dampstain in top blank margin of much of text, else very good. $250
First edition. The history of the Moravians, with much on their leader, Count Zinzendorf. The first Moravian settlement in America was in Georgia in 1735, but by 1740 they were established in Pennsylvania, first in Nazareth and later in Bethlehem. Rimius's account went through several later editions, including one in Philadelphia. 145. ROBIN, ABBÉ. Nouveau Voyage dans L'Amérique Septentrionale, en L'Année 1781. Et Campagne de L'Armée de M. Le Comte de Rochambeau. A Philadelphie, et se trouve a Paris: Chez Moutard, 1783. viii, 224 p. Contemporary sheep. Hinges glued, but a very decent copy. $275
Robin served as a chaplain in the army of Rochambeau during the American Revolution. His book was first published in 1782 and passed through several later editions. It was translated into English by Philip Freneau. Howes R361; Monaghan 1242.
FIRST GAZETTEER OF THE UNITED STATES: 1795
146. SCOTT, JOSEPH. The United States Gazetteer: Containing an Authentic Description of the Several States, their Situation, Extent, Boundaries ... their Respective Counties.... Philadelphia: F. and R. Bailey, 1795. 12mo. [iii]-vi, [294] p. Engraved title, large engraved folding map of the U.S., and 18 smaller engraved folding maps of states and territories. Contemporary sheep, very skillfully rebacked retaining the original spine label, endpapers neatly replaced with period paper. Usual light offsetting on the maps and on the facing text pages, a few stray spots, else a very good, very attractive copy. Early signature of J. McKnight. $10,000
First edition of the first gazetteer of the United States, with nineteen maps drawn and engraved by the author. Included are maps from Maine to South Carolina and Kentucky, as well as important early maps of the Northwest Territory and the Southwest Territory. Scott introduces his work in a short preface: ". . . what was but a few years ago, a pathless region, is now become a rich, and flourishing settlement; interspersed with pleasant towns, and thriving villages." Evans 29476, Howes S237, Rink 225, Wheat & Brun 125 (U.S. map, plus all state and territory maps).
147. SEWEL, WILLIAM. The History of the Rise, Increase and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers; with Several Remarkable Occurrences Intermixed .... The Third Edition, Corrected. Burlington: Isaac Collins, 1774. Folio. xii, 812, [16] p. Contemporary sheep (covers detached). $300
The largest book printed in colonial New Jersey. See Felcone, New Jersey Books, 238, for an essay on the book, its paper (by Hagey and Bicking), its binding (by Aitken), and its publication (aided by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting).
148. SHARPE, JOHN. A Sermon Preached at Trinity-Church in New-York, in America, August 13. 1706. At the Funeral of the Right Honourable Katherine Lady Cornbury ... Wife to his Excellency Lord Viscount Cornbury ... Governor in Chief of the Provinces of New-York, New- Jersey, and Territories Depending thereon in America. London: H. Hills, [1706?]. 16 p. Removed. Foxing (chiefly in the margins) else very good. $250
The first London printing, published for the benefit of the poor. An unobtainable edition was also printed in New York by Bradford. Cornbury is remembered not so much for his stormy tenure as colonial governor of New York and New Jersey, but rather from the contemporary portrait of him, in The New-York Historical Society, in which he is portrayed in women's clothing. Fortunately the story is explained in Patricia Bonomi's recent biography of Cornbury. Felcone, New Jersey Books, 241; European Americana 706/201.
149. SHARPE, JOHN. A Sermon Preached at Trinity-Church in New-York, in America, August 13. 1706. At the Funeral of the Right Honourable Katherine Lady Cornbury ... Wife to his Excellency Lord Viscount Cornbury ... Governor in Chief of the Provinces of New-York, New- Jersey, and Territories Depending thereon in America. London: For J. Morphew, 1708. 16 p. Removed. Very good. $200
The second London printing, following the 1706 edition published for the benefit of the poor. An unobtainable edition was also printed in New York by Bradford. Cornbury is remembered not so much for his stormy tenure as colonial governor of New York and New Jersey, but rather from the contemporary portrait of him, in The New-York Historical Society, in which he is portrayed in women's clothing. Fortunately the story is explained in Patricia Bonomi's recent biography of Cornbury. Felcone, New Jersey Books, 242; European Americana 708/121.
NEW ENGLAND GIVEN FAIR WARNING
150. SHEPARD, THOMAS. The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened & Applied: Being the Substance of Divers Sermons on Matth. 25. 1,--13.... [London]: Re-printed, and carefully corrected in the year, 1695. Sm. fol. [8], 232, 190, [5] p. Modern full calf, very skillfully executed in period style. Title a bit soiled and with early stamp on verso, small burn hole in F3 costing a few letters, corner of K4 torn away affecting type rule, minor soiling and spotting, but a very good copy in a handsome period-style binding. $1000
Shepard (1605-1649) was an early New England Puritan and minister of a congregation at Cambridge, Massachusetts. His Parable of the Ten Virgins was prepared for the press by his son Thomas and fellow New England minister Jonathan Mitchell and was first published in 1660. The text contains a warning to New England: "I do fear there is at this day as deep mischief plotting against New-England as ever the sun saw." (pt. 1, p. 163) Jonathan Edwards made considerable use of the work in his Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1746). European Americana 695/179; Wing S3115.
THE FIRST HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY
151. SMITH, SAMUEL. The History of the Colony of Nova-Caesaria, or New-Jersey: Containing, an Account of its First Settlement, Progressive Improvements, the Original and Present Constitution, and other Events, to the Year 1721. With some Particulars Since; and a Short View of its Present State. Burlington: James Parker, 1765. x, 573, [1] p. Modern calf-backed marbled paper-covered boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Noticeably foxed, as usual, a few blank corners torn away without loss. With contemporary ownership signatures of Burlington County residents Saml. Black and Abner Wright. $2000
The first edition of the first general history of New Jersey. James Parker left his Woodbridge printing office in the care of his son and moved to Burlington to fulfill a long-standing promise to Samuel Smith to print his history as soon as it was ready for the press. The printing press used was one belonging to Benjamin Franklin and formerly used by Franklin's nephew, Benjamin Mecom, in Antigua. The press was shipped from New York to Burlington in April of 1765, used for the Smith book and three or four smaller Burlington jobs, then sent on to Philadelphia in February of 1766, at which time Parker returned to Woodbridge. The press run was 600 copies, as indicated by Parker's bill to Smith. Parker printed two title pages simultaneously on a halfsheet, thus providing each title page a blank conjugate for binding that also precluded the need for a free front endpaper. This old time- and cost-saving printer's trick, combined with stop-press alterations in the text of a number of sheets, has led past bibliographers to speak of two distinct issues of the book. There is absolutely no correlation between the uncorrected and corrected sheets and the two title pages; all were freely mixed by the binder without any discernable pattern or priority. See Felcone, New Jersey Books, 243, for a seven-page analysis of this cornerstone New Jersey book. Evans 10166; Miller, Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia Printing, 853; Streeter Sale 923; Howes S661.
152. SMITH, SAMUEL STANHOPE. A Discourse on the Nature and Reasonableness of Fasting, and on the Existing Causes that Call us to that Duty. Delivered at Princeton ... the 6th January, 1795. Being the Day Appointed by the Synod of New-York and New-Jersey, to be Observed as a General Fast .... Philadelphia: William Young, 1795. 31, [1] p. Half title present. Removed. Half title browned, lightly chipped. $200
Smith would soon be elected president of the College of New Jersey. Evans 29531.
153. SMITH, SAMUEL STANHOPE. The Divine Goodness to the United States of America. A Discourse on the Subjects of National Gratitude, Delivered in Philadelphia ... the 19th of February, 1795.... London: Re-printed by Darton and Harvey ... 1795. 32 p. Removed. $225
London edition of a thanksgiving sermon delivered by the vice-president, and soon-to- be-president, of the College of New Jersey.
EDUCATION IN COLONIAL AMERICA AND THE FOUNDING OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE
154. [SMITH, WILLIAM]. Some Thoughts on Education: with Reasons for Erecting a College in this Province, and Fixing the Same at the City of New-York: to which is added, a Scheme for Employing Masters or Teachers in the Mean Time: and also for Raising and Endowing an Edifice in an Easy Manner.... New York: J. Parker, 1752. ix, [1], 32 p. Final leaf D4 in very skillful, and almost undectable, facsimile. Neat modern paper-covered boards. Abraham Keteltas' copy, signed "A. Keteltas's" and stamped "Abrm. Keteltas" on the title page. $3800
First edition. An influential essay on education in colonial America, a key work in the controversy surrounding the founding of Columbia University, and owned by an important colonial New Yorker. The essay is one of the first published works by the prolific William Smith (1727-1803), written when he was just twenty-five years old and recently arrived in America. It joined several others in the controversy then raging, which ended in the founding of King's College two years later. Benjamin Franklin was purported so impressed by Smith's essay that he hired Smith to be the provost of the newly formed University of Pennsylvania. Abraham Keteltas (1732-1798) was a native New Yorker, minister, and ardent patriot who was elected to the Provincial Congress in 1776. The pamphlet is very rare. The only copy sold at auction in the last fifty years was the Streeter copy, which brought nineteen hundred dollars in 1969. Evans 6935; Streeter Sale 4053.
SOUTHAMPTON, LONG ISLAND, IN 1681
155. (SOUTHAMPTON, LONG ISLAND). A very early manuscript document from Southampton, being a jury inquest upon a death. One page, quarto, Southampton [N.Y.], 6 June 1681. Old fold marks, else very good. In an appropriate and unopened mid-nineteenth- century black frame, the backing board still secured with the original cut nails. $2500
A lovely and very early Southampton manuscript legal proceeding listing the names of several of the town's earliest settlers. The document reads in full: "Southampton the 6th day of June 1681. A Jury paneled for Inquest upon the Death of William Russell are as foloweth Mr Joseph fordham, Mr Arthr Howell, Mr Eades, Obadyah Rogers, John ffoster, Thomas Cooper, Eman Howell, Isaack Mils, Job Sayre, William Hackelton, Obadyah Rogers Junr., ffrances Sayre in the bahalf of constable. The vardit of the Jewry is that the water is the Cawes of his Death he was Drownded and no other means but gods providence he came thereby to his end."
156. (STAMP ACT). Great Britain. Parliament. Correct Copies of the Two Protests against the Bill to Repeal the American Stamp Act, of Last Session. With Lists of the Speakers and Voters. Paris [i.e., London]: Chez J.W. [i.e., Almon], 1766. 24 p. Removed. A bit foxed. $400
First edition thus, incorporating the previously issued Protest and Second Protest against the repeal of the Stamp Act. According to Adams, the previously issued A List of the Minority was bound at the rear, but it is not present here. Adams, American Controversy, 66-57; Goldsmiths' 10220; Higgs 3728.
TAX THE AMERICANS! 157. (STAMP ACT). A List of the Minority in the House of Commons, who Voted Against the Bill to Repeal the American Stamp Act. Paris: Chez J.W. [i.e., London: Almon?], 1766. 8 p. Neat modern half cloth. Edges quite brittle with some chipping, fore-edge of title repaired. $400
First edition. Adams, American Controversy, 66-26.
DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL
158. STEVENS, BENJAMIN. A Sermon Occasioned by the Death of the Honourable Sir William Pepperrell, Bart. Lieutenant-General in His Majesty's Service, &c. Who Died at his Seat in Kittery, July 6th, 1759.... Boston: Edes and Gill, 1759. 4to. 24 p. including front blank [A]1. Title within mourning rules. Contemporary black wrappers (worn), neatly bound in later cloth. Some light browning and soiling and staining, but quite good, with full margins. $1500
Inscribed, probably by Stevens, "For the Revd. Mr. Diamon[d]." Sir William Pepperrell (1696-1759) was a colonel in the colonial militia, a delegate to the Massachusetts General Court, a member of the governor's council, and was appointed chief justice in 1730. During King George's War he commanded the land forces that, with the aid of the British fleet, captured the French fortress Louisburg on Cape Breton. In recognition of this service he was the first native-born American to be created a baronet. Benjamin Stevens (1721-1791) was pastor of the First Church in Kittery, Maine. Evans 8497.
EARLY WORK ON THE CONSTITUTION BY A NEW JERSEY FARMER
159. [STEVENS, JOHN]. Examen du Gouvernement D'Angleterre, Comparé aux Constitutions des Etats-Unis. Où l'on Réfute quelques Assertions Contenues dans l'Ouvrage de M. Adams ... Par un Cultivateur de New-Jersey .... Paris: Chez Froullé, 1789. viii, 291 p. Modern French leather-backed marbled boards. Small early repair to bottom edge of title page, else a near-fine, wide-margined copy. $1250
The greatly enlarged first French edition of one of the earliest works on the Constitution, originally published in New York in 1787. Attributed by Sabin, Evans, and most other bibliographers (except Howes) to William Livingston, the work was actually written by Livingston's friend John Stevens (1749-1838), best known as a leading early American engineer and pioneer in the field of steamboat and railroad transportation. In the Stevens papers is a draft of the work in Stevens's hand, a receipt from the New York printer for printing 500 copies, and several letters of Stevens referring to the essay. Largely unappreciated in America, Stevens's work was a great success in France. The original 56- page pamphlet was turned into a 291-page book with notes by Dupont, Condorcet, and Mazzei. There is much comment on John Adams's recently published Defense of the Constitutions. Howes S-968; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 254. EZRA STILES ON THE REGICIDE JUDGES
160. STILES, EZRA. A History of Three of the Judges of King Charles I. Major-General Whalley, Major-General Goffe, and Colonel Dixwell: who, at the Restoration, 1660, Fled to America; and were Secreted and Concealed, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, for Near Thirty Years. Hartford: Elisha Babcock, 1794. 357, [2] p., errata slip. 9 plates (some folding) incl. portrait, several by Amos Doolittle. Full red crushed levant, fully gilt, by Matthews. Spine darkened and front hinge worn, some light foxing on folded plates. $750
First edition. President Stiles' classic account of the Regicide Judges. Howes S999; Evans 27743.
YALE ORATION: 1778
161. STILES, EZRA. Oratio Inauguralis Habita in Sacello Collegii Yalensis.... Hartfordiae: Watsoni et Goodwini, 1778. 40 p. Removed. Few trifling stains else near fine. $300
Revolutionary War-period inaugural oration at Yale, by the president of the college. Evans 16083.
162. STRONG, NATHAN. A Sermon, Preached March 18, 1778, at the Ordination of the Reverend Joseph Strong ... in Norwich.... Norwich: By John Trumbull, 1778. 24 p. Removed. "Henry Strong's Book" on title. Very good. $175
Evans 16086.
163. THOMAS À KEMPIS. Of the Imitation of Christ: In Three Books. Translated ... by John Payne. Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1783. 44, 211 p. Contemporary sheep (spine ends worn, a few signatures pulled). Some dampstaining to preliminaries. $300
Apparently the first printing in America. Parsons 45; Evans 17994.
FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF NEW JERSEY AND AFRICA
164. THOMPSON, THOMAS. An Account of Two Missionary Voyages by the Appointment of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The one to New Jersey in North America, the other from America to the Coast of Guiney. London: Benj. Dod, 1758. 8vo. [4], 87, [1] p. Contemporary sheep, rebacked in period style. A nice copy. $1200
First and only edition. Thompson resided in Monmouth County, New Jersey, from September 1745 through November 1751 as an S.P.G. missionary, serving churches in Freehold, Shrewsbury, Middletown, and Allentown. He offers a good account of his ministerial services there, referring to numerous individuals, churches, and congregations. He then left New Jersey and sailed for Sierre Leone, West Africa, where he relates in detail the condition of the blacks, their customs, and their responses to his ministry. Howes T203; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 265.
165. [TICKELL, RICHARD]. Anticipation: Containing the Substance of His M---y's most Gracious Speech to both H---s of P---l---t, on the Opening of the Approaching Session .... London: T. Becket, 1778. vi, [2], 74 p. Later half morocco (spine faded). A fine, fresh copy, with the half-title. $200
Third edition. A clever satire on the English government and its failures in America. The work was immensely popular and went through several editions. Adams, American Controversy, 78-102d; Howes T258.
166. TRUTH WILL OUT! The Foul Charges of the Tories against the Editor of the Aurora Repelled by Positive Proof and Plain Truth and his Base Calumniators Put to Shame. [Philadelphia, 1798]. [4], 12 p. Removed. $250
Variously attributed to Benjamin Franklin Bache, William Duane, and Philip Freneau. Page 12 exists both with and without a printer's ornament at the foot; it is not present in this copy. Evans 33648; Gaines 275.
FLOOR JOURNAL OF BOTH SESSIONS OF THE SECOND CONGRESS, 1791-1793
167. UNITED STATES. CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, at the First [-Second] Session of the Second Congress. Philadelphia: Francis Childs and John Swaine, 1792-1793. Folio. 2 vols. in 1. 245 p.; 267 [i.e., 167], [25] p. Bound in modern calf-backed marbled boards, very skillfully executed in period style. Several gatherings in the second volume foxed, else near fine. From the library of James Mott, treasurer of New Jersey during this period. $2000
The detailed floor proceedings, motions, and votes of both sessions of the second Congress, from October 1791 through March 1793. One can follow the course of many important bills as they are introduced, read, amended, voted on, and eventually enacted into law. Key legislation at this session included the establishment of the mint, copper coinage, protection of the frontiers, a uniform militia law, and the Ohio Territory. Evans 24910, 26332.
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS PUBLISHES THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
168. UNITED STATES. CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. Journals of Congress. Containing the Proceedings in the Year 1776. Published by Order of Congress. Volume II. Philadelphia: R. Aitken, 1777. [2], 513, [22] p. Modern full mottled sheepskin, superbly executed in exact facsimile of the original binding, the spine with a red morocco title label and "1776" tooled on a black oval onlay. Some internal dampstaining and browning, particularly toward the end of the text, else a very handsome volume. With the signature of Samuel McCraw Gunn, dated 1822, on the title page. Enclosed in a four-flap chemise and morocco-backed slipcase. $20,000
First edition of the second volume of the journals of the Continental Congress, covering Congress' proceedings for the year 1776 and containing the full text of the Declaration of Independence. On September 26, 1776, the Continental Congress ordered Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken to reprint the earlier (i.e., 1775) journals of Congress and to continue to print the journals "with all possible expedition." According to Charles Hildeburn, quoting Aitken's statement to Congress, "I printed 800 copies of the second volumes, 50 were carried to Lancaster, and committed to the care of Mr. [John] Dunlap. I find of the other 750 copies only 532 were delivered. I allow 218 copies as they have been lost or embessled." (Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 3577) The text contains a complete record of the proceedings of the Continental Congress from January 1 through December 31, 1776. On page 240 the session of Tuesday, July 4, begins: "Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved itself, into a committee of the whole, to take into their farther consideration the declaration, and after some time the president resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported that the committee have agreed to a declaration which they desired him to report. The declaration being read, was agreed to, as follows...." Here begins the full text of the Declaration of Independence, ending at the bottom of page 246 with the name of the final signer. The text of the entire volume is set solid in a Long Primer type. The text of the Declaration is set in a leaded Small Pica type. There is no mistaking the emphasis. Next follows Congress' resolution: "That copies of the declaration be sent to the several assemblies, conventions and committees, or councils of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the continental troops; that it be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of the army." Evans 15684.
VARLO'S TOUR IN AMERICA
169. VARLO, CHARLES. The Essence of Agriculture, being a Regular System of Husbandry, Through all its Branches; Suited to the Climate and Lands of Ireland ... with the Author's Twelve Months Tour thro' America.... London: For the author, 1786. v, [3], 283, [1], 124 p. Fold. table. Modern half calf antique. Some worm trails in early leaves, else very good. $900
First edition of Varlo's frequently-reprinted treatise on agriculture, with an account of his travels in America. Varlo (ca. 1725-ca. 1795), a Yorkshireman farming in Ireland, came to America in 1784 to prosecute a bogus claim to a part of New Albion, roughly including parts of New York, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. He traveled along the coast from Boston to Virginia, placing advertisements in newspapers and generally attempting to be heard. He even published a book, A New System of Husbandry (Philadelphia, 1785). After his return to Europe he published The Essence of Agriculture, which, like most of his books, he reissued randomely and repeatedly, altering titles, rearranging or interchanging sections, and adding and removing pages of subscribers' names. Later editions were titled Nature Displayed and The Floating Ideas of Nature. Howes V51. See also Clark, Old South, II, 129, and Felcone, New Jersey Books, 281-283.
170. (VERMONT). The Rural Magazine: or, Vermont Repository. Four issues: Feb. 1795 [57]-111, [1] p.; May 1795 [225]-279, [1] p.; June 1795 [281]-328 p. (imperf.); and Aug. 1796 [365]-416 p. Removed. Some soiling and foxing. The lot, $200
The second Vermont magazine. Evans 29450; McCorison 353, 399.
171. WATTS, ISAAC. Miscellaneous Thoughts, in Prose and Verse, on Natural, Moral and Divine Subjects ... The First American Edition. Elizabeth Town: Shepard Kollock, 1796. 12mo. 240, [3] p. Contemporary mottled sheep (hinges cracked, spine scuffed, part of label gone). Internally some foxing and toning, but a nice copy. $300
Evans 31580.
18TH CENTURY AMERICAN LITERARY MAGAZINE
172. THE WEEKLY MAGAZINE of Original Essays, Fugitive Pieces, and Interesting Intelligence. Philadelphia: James Watters & Co. Vol. I nos. 1-13, February 3 through April 28, 1798. [2], [xi]-xi, [2], 312, 311-414, [3], 420-464, vi p. 2 engraved plates. Contemporary half sheep (worn and scuffed but sound). The usual foxing, occasional spotting. $500
The first volume of James Watters's ill-fated literary magazine. The Weekly published a number of contributions by Charles Brockden Brown as well as other original American writing. Unfortunately the young editor died in the yellow fever epidemic, and the magazine ceased publication in August 1798. Evans 34991; Mott I p. 122.
FIRST MEDICAL BOOK PRINTED IN NEW JERSEY
173. WESLEY, JOHN. Primative [sic] Physic; or an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. Trenton: Quequelle and Wilson, 1788. 12mo. 125 p. Modern full sheep, superbly executed in period style. Title leaf washed and very skillfully laid down, lower corner neatly replaced, random dampstaining and a few chipped corners. A correctly restored copy of a very scarce book. $1800
The first medical book printed in New Jersey. Wesley's Primitive Physic (here misspelled on the title page by novice printers Frederick C. Quequelle and George M. Wilson) is a collection of remedies for the treatment of diseases, symptoms, and accidental injuries. First published in London in 1747, it was reprinted more than forty times over the next eighty years. This Trenton edition is rare, and the handful of located copies are largely in poor condition from very heavy use. Evans 21589; Austin 2029. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN WEST VIRGINIA
174. (WEST VIRGINIA). Watson, Richard. Christian Panoply; Containing an Apology for the Bible; in a Series of Letters, Addressed to Thomas Paine.... Shepherd's-Town: P. Rootes & C. Blagrove, 1797. 332 p. Contemporary sheep. Spine weakening at center, hinges cracked but held by cords, spine ends chipped, some gatherings browned. A good copy. $900
The first book printed in what is now West Virginia, preceded only by newspapers and a few broadsides and small pamphlets. Little is known of either Rootes or Blagrove, both of whom disappeared almost as quickly as they had come. See West Virginia Imprints, pp. 8 et seq., for a discussion of the printing of this book. Streeter sale 1104; West Virginia Imprints 5; Evans 33158.
KEEP OFF THE STAGE . . . IN DUTCH
175. WITHERSPOON, JOHN. Ernstig onderzoek aangaande den aart en de uitwerkselen der Tooneelen. Zynde ingericht, om te toonen, dat het begunstigen en bevorderen van een openbaar tooneel onbestaanbaar is met het charakter van een' Christen. Utrecht: J. J. Van Poolsum, 1772. [12], 139, [1] p. Fully untrimmed, in modern cloth-backed boards. Title a trifle dust soiled and with upper blank corner gnawed, else about fine. $450
First Dutch translation of Witherspoon's popular diatribe against the stage, first published in Glasgow in 1757 as A Serious Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Stage. Witherspoon was president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence.
FIRST EDITION OF WITHERSPOON'S WORKS
176. WITHERSPOON, JOHN. The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon ... Late President of the College, at Princeton New-Jersey. To which is Prefixed an Account of the Author's Life ... by Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, of New York.... Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1800. 3 vols. (36, [4], 37-604 p.; 632 p.; [4], 9-611, [12] p.) Very skillfully rebound in period-style calf-backed marbled paper-covered boards, original endpapers retained throughout. Vol. 3 has a minor paper defect on B1 affecting two letters and gathering 2T is stained, else a lovely set with only slight foxing, in a very handsome and correct period-style binding. $2500
The first collected edition of Witherspoon's works, prefaced by John Rodgers' 1795 funeral sermon on Witherspoon. Includes all of Witherspoon's most important works. A fourth volume was issued by Woodward in 1801. Witherspoon was a distinguished Presbyterian theologian, president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence. Evans 39128; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 299. 177. WOODBRIDGE, WILLIAM. A Sermon on the Care of the Soul, Delivered to the Society in North-Killingworth, and Published at their Request. Middletown: Tertius Dunning, 1798. 40 p. Modern half morocco (very lightly rubbed, minor spotting). Text foxed, a few page numbers cut into. $150
Evans 35049.
178. [YOUNG, ARTHUR]. Rural Economy, or Essays on the Practical Parts of Husbandry: Designed to Explain Several of the Most Important Methods of Conducting Farms of Various Kinds ... To which is added, The Rural Socrates.... Burlington: Isaac Neale, 1792. 299, [1] p. Contemporary mottled sheep. Upper hinge beginning to crack, light internal toning, else a very nice copy. $400
Felcone, New Jersey Books, 312; Rink 1110; Evans 25061.
179. ZIMMERMANN, JOHANN GEORG, RITTER VON. Solitude Considered with Respect to its Influence upon the Mind and the Heart. Written Originally in German ... Translated from the French of J. B. Mercier.... Wilmington: By Johnson & Preston, 1797. [4], v, [1], 298 p. Contemporary sheep. Hinges broken, else a clean copy. $350
Rink 479; Evans 33261.
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