“A BOOK OF THE GREATEST RARITY”

(CONTINENTAL CONGRESS). Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress. Philadelphia, 1774. First edition, first issue, of the first official journal of the Continental Congress, one of the earliest publications of the American government, “a book of the greatest rarity.” Also presenting for the first time an attempt to design a seal to “represent emblematically a united nation” in America. An excellent copy in contemporary calf with half title. $65,000.

"IT WAS NOT EXPECTED… THAT SUCH AN OUTRAGE AND MASSACRE…WOULD HAVE BEEN PERPETRATED: RARE AND IMPORTANT CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE 1770 BOSTON MASSACRE, THE EARLIEST BOSTON PRINTING TO BE SOLD IN AMERICA

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (BOWDOIN, James). A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston. Boston, Printed, by Order of the Town, by Messirs. Edes and Gill; And Re-printed for W. Bingley… London, 1770. [Actually printed in Boston by Edes and Gill in July, 1770].

Extremely rare and important July 1770 Boston printing of this contemporary and influential account of the Boston Massacre, originally commissioned and ordered to be printed by the Town of Boston. Though the title page bears a London imprint, this edition was actually printed and sold in Boston to circumvent the American distribution ban (put in place so as not to prejudice the jury hearing the trial of the soldiers), and as such was the earliest Boston printing to be sold in America. $35,000.

"THE BEST CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE REVOLUTION FROM THE BRITISH SIDE"

STEDMAN, Charles. History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War. London, 1794. Two volumes.

First edition of Stedman's massive contemporary two-volume History of the American Revolution—"the standard work on the subject"—containing 15 military maps and plans (11 folding, the largest nearly 20 by 30 inches), a handsome copy in contemporary tree calf boards. $22,000.

THE FIRST SERIAL PRINTING OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

(CONSTITUTION) CAREY, Mathew, editor. American Museum, or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces. Philadelphia, July-December, 1787.

First edition of a true American classic: Mathew Carey's American Museum for 1787 (Volume II: Nos. I-VI), containing in the September issue the first serial printing of the U.S. Constitution and featuring the first serial printings of the first six Federalist papers issued outside of New York City, in original marbled boards. $18,500.

"LET ALL NEW ENGLAND RISE AND CRUSH BURGOYNE" (WASHINGTON)

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) BURGOYNE, John. State of the Expedition from Canada. London, 1780.

First edition of British officer Burgoyne's dramatic justification of his 1777 defeat by American Revolutionary forces at Saratoga. Intended to win the war for the British, it became "the turning point" in the war that "brought France openly into the struggle. And it led to a change in the British command and a fundamental alteration in strategy" (Wood, American Revolution), containing six large engraved folding maps and plans with handcolored details, two with hinged overslips illustrating changes in troop positions and movements, handsomely bound. $13,500.

RARE AND IMPORTANT 1774 AMERICAN (NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT) PRINTING, “THE BEST PRINTED EDITION” OF THIS IMPORTANT FORERUNNER TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: WITH THE EXTREMELY SCARCE QUEBEC ADDRESS AND THE FIRST PUBLISHED APPEARANCE, IN BOOK FORM, OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONGRESS’ RESPONSE TO THE SUFFOLK RESOLVES

CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. Extracts from the Votes and Proceedings. New-London, 1774.

Rare 1774 New London printing of this “forerunner of the Declaration of Independence,” extracts from the extraordinary proceedings of the first Continental Congress, published by order of the Congress. This unique printing also contains the very scarce Quebec address, and the landmark earliest publication, in book form, of the Continental Congress’ response to the Suffolk Resolves of Massachusetts. $12,500.

"THE GREATEST THREAT TO AMERICAN LIBERTIES": RARE FIRST EDITION OF CONTINUATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS, 1770, ISSUED IN BOSTON SAME YEAR AS THE BOSTON MASSACRE, DOCUMENTING THE "CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS" PROVOKED BY LT. GOVERNOR THOMAS HUTCHINSON

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (HUTCHINSON, Thomas) (ADAMS, John) (ADAMS, Samuel) (HANCOCK, John). Continuation of the Proceedings. Boston, 1770.

First edition of the momentous work that documents powerful legal and philosophical debates in a stand-off between Boston patriots and Hutchinson over his command to remove the Massachusetts Court from Boston amidst fury over the recent Boston Massacre, causing colonial leaders, chief among them Samuel and John Adams, to rage against "the most valuable of our Liberties from being wrested from us," this rare edition "almost certainly a major cause" of the Declaration of Independence "accusing the King of calling 'together legislative bodies at place… distance from the repository of their public records for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance." $11,500.

"FORERUNNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (CONTINENTAL CONGRESS). Extracts From the Votes and Proceedings. Philadelphia Printed: Boston, Re-printed, 1774.

Rare 1774 Boston printing issued quickly after the same year's first Philadelphia printing and mere months after the 1773 Boston Tea Party sparked Britain's Coercive Acts of March-June 1774, aimed at punishing the rebellious city, provoking the Continental Congress to meet that fall and issue the Extracts, America's bold step toward open revolt in April 1775. $11,500.

“A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY”

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (GORDON, Thomas) (TRENCHARD, John). Cato's Letters. London, 1755. Four volumes.

1755 sixth edition of Trenchard and Gordon's famed essays, a major influence on the American Revolution—"ranked with the treatises of Locke as the most authoritative statement on the nature of political liberty and above Locke as an exposition of the social sources of the threats it faced" (Bailyn). A direct and important influence on many of the founding fathers and major writings of the American Revolution, including writers such as Franklin, Dickinson, Livingstone, John Adams and Zenger, and such seminal works as the Federalist, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. $7500.

"WHERE-EVER LAW ENDS, TYRANNY BEGINS"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) TUCKER, John. Sermon Preached at Cambridge, Before His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson… May 29th, 1771. Boston: New-England, 1771.

First edition of Reverend Tucker's profoundly influential Sermon—"an account of the origins of legitimate government that was drawn directly from Locke's Second Treatise"—calling on Americans to "act as free" yet "never use our liberty for a cloke [sic] of maliciousness." $6800.

"THAT THESE AMERICAN STATES MAY NEVER CEASE TO BE FREE"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) ADAMS, Samuel. Oration delivered at the State-House. Philadelphia Printed; London, Re-printed for, 1776.

First edition of a fascinating Revolutionary work of deliberate political misdirection, misattributed to Samuel Adams, firebrand of the Boston Tea Party, published in the wake of the Declaration "to show that the colonies were bent on independence," issued in London despite the imprint of a fictional Philadelphia printing. $6750.

AMERICANS, "TO COMPLETE OUR POLITICAL HAPPINESS… SHOULD VOLUNTARILY RISE UP"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) SHUTE, Daniel, A.M. Sermon Preached before His Excellency Francis Bernard…. May 25th, 1758. Boston: New-England, 1768.

First edition of Shute's provocative Sermon delivered in the aftermath of the Stamp Act and other punitive British legislation, asserting the basis for "political resistance" against violation of Americans' "natural and civil rights," affirming historians' view of colonial rebellion as fueled by clergy such as Reverend Shute, demonstrating "religion was a fundamental cause of the American Revolution, very rare uncut in original wrappers. $5500.

"A POWERFUL INFLUENCE IN DETERMINING COLONIAL RESISTANCE"

SHARP, Granville. Declaration of the People's Natural Right. London, 1775.

Rare true expanded "Second Edition," with same initial collation as a virtually unavailable 1774 edition "made for the purpose only of being given among the Author's friends," combining the sheets of that work with text substantially added to assert rights such as trial by jury, the fallibility of kings, the "people's right of representation" and the dire effect of slavery on America's struggle for independence, noting the colonies' "toleration of it greatly weakens the claim or natural right of our American brethren to LIBERTY" (emphasis in original), exceptional uncut in original boards. $5250.

"MUCH IS AT STAKE… THE UNITED VOICE OF AMERICA, WITH THE SOLEMNITY OF THUNDER AND ACCENTS PIERCING AS THE LIGHTNING, AWAKES YOUR ATTENTION"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) HITCHCOCK, A.M. Gad. Sermon Preached… May 25th, 1774. Boston: New England, 1774.

First edition of the famed Congregationalist minister's electrifying Sermon, an "unmistakable and direct challenge" to Britain’s new Governor Gage of Massachusetts in the audience, with Hitchcock boldly pronouncing "our contention is not about trifles, but about liberty and property, and not ours only, but those of prosperity." $5200.

"THE BUSINESS OF ALL POWER IS TO DEFEND THE LIVES, LIBERTIES AND PROPERTY OF THE PEOPLE"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) WEBSTER, Samuel, A.M. Sermon Preached Before… House of Representatives of the State of the Massachusetts-Bay… May 28, 1777. Boston, 1777.

First edition of Webster's electrifying 1777 Sermon delivered barely ten months after America's Declaration of Independence, invoking God's wrath to put the British "to flight speedily… make them quake with fear… and so return to their own lands… let them have neither credit nor courage, to come out any more against us." $4800.

"THE BUSINESS OF ALL POWER IS TO DEFEND THE LIVES, LIBERTIES AND PROPERTY OF THE PEOPLE"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) WEBSTER, Samuel, A.M. Sermon Preached Before… House of Representatives of the State of the Massachusetts-Bay… May 28, 1777. Boston, 1777.

First edition of Webster's electrifying 1777 Sermon delivered barely ten months after America's Declaration of Independence, invoking God's wrath to put the British "to flight speedily… make them quake with fear… and so return to their own lands… let them have neither credit nor courage, to come out any more against us." $4800.

"THE MOST LEARNED STATEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS FOR COLONIAL RESISTANCE": FIRST EDITION OF JOHN ADAMS’ NOVANGLUS LETTERS

((AMERICAN REVOLUTION) ADAMS, John (and LEONARD, Daniel). Novanglus, and Massachusettensis; or Political Essays. Boston, 1819.

First edition of John Adams' Novanglus letters, a series of essays that appeared under his pseudonym in a Boston newspaper just prior to Lexington and Concord, together complete in book form for the first time—"Adams' expansive defense of the colonies' autonomy would play an important role in America's intellectual justification for declaring independence from Great Britain," very rare uncut in original boards. $4200.

"AMERICANS! THIS DAY RECOGNIZES YOUR EMANCIPATION… THE BIRTH-DAY OF YOUR INDEPENDENCE… A COMPLETE POLITICAL REVOLUTION"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) HITCHCOCK, Enos, D. D. Oration, in Commemoration of the Independence. Providence, 1793.

First edition of a seminal work by the influential Revolutionary-era chaplain who served with the Third Massachusetts Continental at Ticonderoga and Saratoga, as well as Valley Forge, and later in Philadelphia at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, an eloquent voice for America's cause, referencing Montesquieu in praising America's Constitution for its "three powers… most perfectly combined," especially scarce with a contemporary New England provenance. $3800.

JOSIAH TUCKER WAS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S "BÊTE NOIRE

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) TUCKER, Josiah. Series of Answers to Certain Popular Questions. Glocester, 1776.

First edition of Tucker's incendiary 1776 work in which he responds to both British and American positions on American independence, issued as news of the Revolution's opening battles reached Britain, expressing his long-held, "unique" and fiercely contentious views as Britain's "Cassandra," defending taxation of Americans even as he demanded "America be set free now," with Franklin known to make extensive comments in the margins of a copy now located in the Library of Congress, which he could have purchased in late December 1776. $3400.

"SOME OF THE VERY FEW REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL SPEECHES TO SURVIVE IN PRINTED FORM"

(BOSTON MASSACRE) HANCOCK, John; CHURCH, Benjamin; WARREN, Joseph, et al. Orations, Delivered at the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston. Boston, 1807.

Second edition of this collection of impassioned speeches delivered annually on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre from 1771-1783, including John Hancock’s electrifying 1774 Boston Massacre Oration, delivered only a few months after the Boston Tea Party, as well as speeches by Benjamin Church, Joseph Warren, William Tudor, and others. Boston Massacre orations "are some of the very few Revolutionary political speeches to survive in printed form" (Gustafson, Eloquence is Power). Scarce in original boards. $3200.

"HE WHO DOES NOT MEAN TO BEAR A PART IN THE PUBLIC BURDENS OF THE DAY… IS NO PATRIOT"

(DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE) GORDON, William. A Sermon. Watertown, 1775.

First edition of William Gordon's powerful election sermon delivered before the Massachusetts Provincial Congress assembled at Watertown in 1775, after being driven out of Boston by British troops. $3200.

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: LETTERS TO GEORGE WASHINGTON

(WASHINGTON, George) SPARKS, Jared, editor. Correspondence of the American Revolution. Boston, 1853. Four volumes.

First edition of this collection of Jared Sparks' edition of George Washington's correspondence relating to the Revolution, in contemporary calf. $2800.

"THE MOST NOTORIOUS OF BRITISH PRISON SHIPS" IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) (ANDROS, Thomas). Old Jersey Captive. Boston, 1833.

First edition of an extraordinary account of "death and despair that reigned" on the infamous British prison ship stationed in New York's harbor, where captured Revolutionary soldiers such as Andros were brutalized and viewed by the English "as rebels and traitors… in an unjust and wanton civil war," rare in original boards. $2500.

"OF ARMS I SING, AND TRANS-ATLANTIC WAR"

[COCKINGS, George]. American War, a Poem. London, 1781.

Scarce first edition of this anonymously published "impartial" epic narrative poem about the American Revolution—"a very remarkable specimen of poetry"—with engraved frontispiece illustration depicting the attack on Bunker's Hill. $2400.