On 4 July 1776 only two signatures were affixed to the unanimously adopted Declaration of Independence — those of John Hancock, president of the Congress, and Charles Thomson, secretary, in order to authenticate the document that had been voted on and approved. Yet by a curious twist of fate (read rather, surely, of a political enemy's knife), when the calligraphic copy that is so well known to every school child was ready shortly after 19 July, authenticator Thomson was not invited to sign it!

When he had retired from public life in 1789, Thomson was to turn his interest in the Bible and Greek to the 20-year task of producing this monumentally important work.

Its printer was the daughter of Robert Aitken, who had printed the first Bible in English in America. A major edition of the English Bible, this is essential for any Bible collection, not just for collections of American Bibles — though as an American Bible and simple Americanum it has a revered place.

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As is the case with the 70 p. issue, the first 16 p. are the same sheets as appear in the original [Richmond, April 1792] edition (Evans 26580), and were probably printed in 1791. Evans, however, postulates that the first 16 p. were printed by Dobson in September 1792. He accounts for their presence in copies of the [Richmond] edition of 60 p. by suggesting that Asplund substituted the corrected Philadelphia sheets for the unsatisfactory sheets of the earlier edition. Cf. the prefaces to the 1794 and 1796 editions, with title: The universal register of the Baptist denomination.”

In addition to its exhaustive account of who's who and what's where, this lists both principles of belief and “Rules of Decorum”; the latter, e.g., forbid laughing and whispering when another member of the association is speaking in assembly. Between the “Rules of Decorum” and the Index, Asplund remarks on the un-Christian “inconsistency” of “Keeping our fellow-creatures in bondage, who have as good a right was we, both to civil and religions liberty — Not only so; but misusing them, concerning common blessings, which certainly is a violation of the rights of nature and inconsistent with a republican government.”

•  Evans 26582; ESTC W37302.   Uncut copy. In 20th-century black buckram binding. Ex-library with bookplate but no other markings.  (24467)

Illustrated with a folding map of Colombia, drawn by J. Finlayson and engraved by J. Yeager; a folding plan and elevation of “one of the better order of houses in Colombia”; and a folding plan of the city of Bogotá. The text is preceded by a two-page prospectus for the American Quarterly Review and a prospectus for William Strickland’s Reports upon Canals, Rail-ways, Roads, and Other Subjects (8 pp., bound at the volume's beginning).

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Provenance:  From the library of Thomas Oliver; after that, the Maryland Diocesan Library.

•  Shoemaker 27920; Smith, American Travellers Abroad, B1.   19th-century quarter brown cloth over tan paper-covered boards, spine with printed paper label; rebacked. Covers stained, exposed at corners, and chipped at top and fore-edges. Library markings: Rubber-stamp on front pastedown and verso of title-page; previous owner's bookplate on front pastedown (see above). Moderate foxing throughout, and other staining, heavy foxing on endpapers; offsetting from map affecting title-page. Outer and bottom edge untrimmed. Map of Colombia slightly tattered at bottom right corner. All maps generally clean and overall in very good condition.  (24425)

Provenance: Front fly-leaf inscribed “Thomas G. Arnolds Book Coventry,” inked in an early hand.

•  ESTC W37335; Evans 20950; Sabin 3366.   Contemporary speckled sheep, worn and very slightly sprung, spine scuffed with foot chipped. Pages age-toned and variably waterstained, with occasional edge nicks and crumpled corners; yet not brittle or nasty and the volume quite pleasant for reading.  (24391)

Philadelphia

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Binding:  Signed binding by Harry B. Matthews. Light brown cloth with an Art Nouveau spider web and spider in black and red on front cover, along with author and title in black.

•  Binding as above. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and private ownership monogram, rubber-stamp on title-page, four-digit number in ink in one margin, charge pocket at rear, no other markings.  (26419)

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While the title-page merely says the piece is “by a Lover of Mankind,” Benezet's authorship was well established by Evans.

•  Bristol B3689; Shipton & Mooney 42555; Hildeburn 2980; ESTC W26174. Not in Blake.   Recent quarter calf, old style, with marbled paper sides. Text cockled, with stray stains and age-toning; title-page crumpled. Original edition, not a modern reprint.  (27123)

“Commentary and bibliographical history” (p. [3–7]) signed in type by Geoffrey Keynes.

•  Bentley, Blake Books, A15.   Publisher's quarter black morocco with marbled paper sides. In the publisher's marbled paper slipcase. Very good condition.  (25900)

The edition was limited to 1626 copies, this being no. 840 of 1600 regular copies. The Trianon Innocence AND Experience (our emphasis) did not appear until the year after this did.

Provenance:  Presentation copy from Lessing Rosenwald to his daughter Joan and her husband Isadore Scott: “For Scotty and Joannie / With love / Dad / 2/15/55" in Lessing's characteristic green ink.

•  Bentley & Nurmi 156; Bentley, Blake Books, 165.   Publisher's quarter tan calf, abraded; usual discoloration at hinges (inside) from the binding glue. Top edge gilt. In the publisher's leather trimmed slipcase, leather here also abraded (leather too soft!!). A clean, attractive copy with a provenance up there amongst the best imaginable.  (25939)

Tyson and Walton signed the document on 24 August 1791.

An excellent display piece.

•  Old folds with a few short tears. Residue of mounting tape at two points on the left margin. (14729)

They address then-pressing topics: tariffs, protectionism, development of domestic industry, and European foreign policy.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 49095; Clarkin, Mathew Carey Bibliography, 1133. Recent quarter tan cloth with paper sides in the style of the era. Ex-library with stamp on title-page; paper brittle and age-toned. One page torn and repaired.

Provenance:  Flourishing old signatures of “J. Lowry” to pastedown and title-page.

The play's length is that of a "filler" piece in a jam-packed 19th-century theatrical night of three or four plays (or parts thereof) and other "entertainments"—or, the length of a school or home production. The style is distinctly amateur/naive.  E.g., the euphonious exotic names are far from consistently Chinese and one character is "carried [from his 'chinese cottage'] to the ganges"; the author confuses exit and exeunt ("Exeunt Priest")—we wonder if this blithe vagueness as to geography and world cultures, and the seeming lack of even basic classical education, suggest a lively-minded and enthusiastically play-going but unrigorously schooled female writer?

Provenance: Gift inscription: "Horace W. Smith, Esq. to W.W., 1863." A pencil note says "By J. Howard Payne in his handwriting, W.W."—but the handwriting does not match that of Payne's MSS. at Yale and Brown Universities.

•  First leaf dust-soiled and now separated. Edges of some leaves chipped costing a few letters and, very rarely, an entire word; lost letters and words are easily supplied by context. Comfortable, for working with.

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•  Sabin 16279.   Publisher's textured teal cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; sides and edges clean and showing virtually no wear, spine with head pulled, title dimmed, and small rubbed spots. Ex–social club library: number on endpaper in a good 19th-century hand, rubber- and pressure-stamp on title-page, several other pages faintly stamped. Front free endpaper lacking. A nice, clean, sound copy with its paper holding up beautifully.  (26266)

The second item here is the first edition of Woodward's collection of revival-themed letters to and from various clergymen, closing with an account of Mrs. Rebecca Ashburn's mysterious dreams. In these dreams a minister unknown to Mrs. Ashburn attempted to save her soul; she later identified her would-be converter as one Dr. William Rogers. This work is very uncommon in print form. OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only five U.S. institutional holdings of this Philadelphia printing, although it is widely held in microform.

•  Essay: Sabin 17433; Shaw & Shoemaker 370; Rosenbach, American Jewish Bibliography, 123; Singerman, Judaica Americana, 0136. Increase: Shaw & Shoemaker 2587; Sabin 105172.   Period-style half mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and first text page institutionally pressure-stamped. Pages lightly age-toned, somewhat more so in second work; one leaf with tear from outer margin extending into text.  (25209)