The volume is illustrated withan oversized, folding panoramic view of Quebec along with 13 other plates, including two maps of the Niagara Falls region; views of Bristol, DE, and Chester, MA; and a bucolic depiction of the “Water Works of Philadelphia on the Schuylkil,” all engraved after De Roos's own designs.

Binding:  Contemporary hunter green diced calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets and an interior blind rule with small gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra in five compartments. Board edges and turn-ins decorated with gilt rolls; rich blue marbled endpapers; all edges marbled.

•  Howes D268; Sabin 19677.   Binding as above, corners/joints scuffed and back joint starting from head; spine a little sunned, evenly and attractively. Scattered light foxing, pages and plates otherwise clean. An admirable book in a nice copy.  (26665)

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•  Evans 13241; Hildeburn 3001; Austin 635; Blake p. 111; ESTC W6028.   Recent quarter leather with marbled paper sides. Some staining in foremargins and corners, sometimes into text; foxing, and light age-toning. Old library pressure-stamp on title-page (properly deaccessioned). A rather okay copy.  (27083)

A few of the U.S. pieces are anonymous, e.g. “The People’s Friend,” which was “sung at Philadelphia, 4 July, 1801.”

•  Wegelin 932; Shaw & Shoemaker 2148. Period-style quarter tan cloth over light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page torn, with outer corner chipped, resulting in loss of four letters from end of title; now mounted. One contents leaf with edge tear extending into text; last leaf with short edge tears. Some light to moderate foxing, with pages age-toned; final page with shadow of pencilled “Finis” and p. 80 with pencilled comment as above.

An examination of the paper used suggests that some gatherings of the BCP are remaindered from the 1795 printing and that the bulk of the “edition” is a close 1805 reprinting on wove paper.

•  Evans 29363; Griffiths, Book of Common Prayer, 1795/12. Not in Shaw & Shoemaker.   Recent full calf, old style, by Grace Bindings (signed “G.B.” on lower turn-in of inside back cover), with gilt tooling on covers and spine, raised bands on spine, green title-label. Title-page browned around the edges. Scattered foxing and a few stray stains.  (20606)

Binding: American binding of straight-grain black morocco framed in wide gilt roll with smaller blind roll and blind-tooled corner decorations, spine gilt extra, board edges with gilt rolls; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt. The binding has tools that are the same as seen on examples in the Maser Collection at Bryn Mawr College and the Papantonio Collection at the American Antiquarian Society that were executed by Wilson & Nichols.

Provenance:  Presentation inscription on the front fly-leaf, “Rv. G.T. Bedell [probably Gregory, Rector of St. Andrew's, Philadelphia] / with the regards / of Thos. N. Stanford” [probably the New York publisher]. Later in an institutional library; deaccessioned.

In a neat old hand, virtually every hymn has its author identified; in one place, two alternate lines are supplied.

•  Shoemaker 30362. On binding: Maser, Bookbinding in America, 37; Papantonio, Early American Bookbindings, 47.  Binding as above, rubbed at points and front cover with two scuffed areas affecting tooling, one of the gilt, one of a blind bit; back cover with other, less striking scuffed spots; spine head pulled. Spine leather overall pebbled, or roughened, by exposure to significant heat; gilt tooling much dimmed, though still “readable.” Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, deaccession noted. Front fly-leaf with early inked gift inscription as above and pencilled annotation dated 1845. Pencilled annotations to hymns as noted above; title-page with shadow of pencilled annotation in upper margin. Spots of staining to first and last few leaves. Priced according to its afflictions, not its continuing points of interest. (25654)

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•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 31426; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2032. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 31686; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2034.   Contemporary sheep over wooden boards withworking brass clasps, abraded; spine with raised bands and later spine labels. Leather of top spine compartment damaged with loss of leather; front joint abraded and starting. Spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period, not worse and indeed better than is often the case.  (26967)

•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 43969 ( = 43951); Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2286. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 44299; Arndt 2288.   Contemporary black roan in imitation of straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding with minor scuffing, spine with faintly visible scuff from now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped; back pastedown with Pennsylvania bookseller's small ticket. Expectable spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period. A few page corners dog-eared.  (24426)

Also reported/canvassed are hot religious disputes at the University of Pennsylvania and “Carlisle” (Dickinson), with reference to (literal) iconoclasm at Cambridge colleges under the Protectorate ; a double execution in New-York; and minutes of the General Assembly (including a petition from residents of Germantown protesting “enormous” taxes, “an act to prevent the importation of convicts within this common wealth,” and several items having to do with insolvent debtors.

•  Unbound, as issued; edges tattered, pages creased, age-toned and foxed, with tears along one fold and scattered small holes, with loss of a few letters or words not affecting general sense. Two pages with large, early inked notations over text.  (24658)

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Provenance: Signature of Jos. Walter on wrapper.

A scarce publication.

•  Evans 17310; Hildeburn 4072. 19th-century half brown sheep over marbled paper with gilt-lettered spine, original plain blue wrapper bound in; binding rubbed with front joint just starting. Ex-library copy with inked call number on front cover, bookplate on front pastedown, pencilled call number on verso of second front flyleaf, pressure-stamps, and rubber-stamps (including front wrapper and title-page, “Locked Section”). Title- and following leaf chipped in lower outer corner, repaired with paper; light foxing and spots of soiling, only. Inked ownership inscription as above, on front wrapper.

Evidence of readership: Occasional pencilled marginalia, including “Great chapter,” “Know,” and, in one case,the comment, “Voltaire again!”

•  ESTC W11665; Evans 17930.   Contemporary sheep, spine with raised bands and binding slightly sprung; leather cracking over spine and lost in small areas at corners, edges, and spine foot to insect damage or abrasion. Front free endpaper lacking; back free endpaper with inked inscription dated 1789. Pages browned and stained, with minute insect damage to blank areas (only) of first few leaves and with marginalia as above.  (14942)

•  Evans 27001. Removed from a nonce volume, now in modern wrappers. Six-digit number stamped on title-page. Dusty.

featuring an addition “not in any other Edition,” according to the title-page: “An Examination, before the British House of Lords, respecting the Stamp-Act.”

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•  Sabin 25602; Shaw & Shoemaker 515. On Temple Franklin and early editions, see: Green & Stallybrass, Franklin,151–60.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; spine extremities a little chipped, front cover a little sprung, hinges (inside) reinforced. Frontispiece and title-page tattered and now mounted, with outer margin of first preface page repaired; a number of corners bumped or dog-eared, with a few in one section at some point delicately rodent(?)-nibbled. Subscribers' list trimmed closely, affecting two names only; pages age-toned with intermittent foxing. In fact, though certainly not “excellent” — quite “satisfactory.”  (25357)

•  Evans 37442; Sabin 25602; ESTC W17376.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; joints fully open and holding by cords, leather peeled up from board edges, gilt dimmed on spine label. Front fly-leaves with faint pencilled and inked inscriptions; back fly-leaves with inked ownership inscriptions, one dated 1801. Pages age-toned, last few waterstained; one leaf torn with loss of several words from one line. A “survivor” copy, priced accordingly.  (22636)

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•  Sabin 61675; not in Shoemaker. Original plain blue-green wrappers, chipping over spine, front wrapper with inked title and numeral. Sewing going, with signatures loose in wrappers. Title-page with three-digit stamped number and with pencilled notation in upper margin. A very scarce publication.