Autumn 2020 Catalogue

6 American Heroes & Leaders Autumn 2020 “A Revolution Which Has No Parallel In The Annals Of Human Society” (Madison) 4. MADISON, James;WASHINGTON, George; HOPKINSON, Francis, et al. ThePennsylvaniaPacket, andDaily Advertiser. [Five Issues]. Philadelphia, December 25, 27-29, 31, 1787. Five newspaper issues. Folio, original tabloid-size sheets of tan paper; each issue pp. 4 (11-1/2 by 18 inches folded), custom portfolio. $18,500. Click for more info Five December 1787 issues of the Pennsylvania Packet (December 25 & 27-29, 31), containing an exceedingly rare chronicle of fierce debates in state conventions over ratification of the proposed federal Constitution, with the first Pennsylvania printing of the substantial and eloquent passage from Madison’s Federalist Essay No. 14, together with key speeches by pro- and anti-ratification leaders, coverage of ratification conventions in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey—the first three states to ratify—and first publication of the pro-ratification allegory, “The New Roof,” by Francis Hopkinson, signer of the Declaration, and much more. An important collection of Americana, together housed in a custom portfolio. “1787 was… the most fateful year in the history of the United States” (Rossiter, 11-12). For it was in 1787 that the Constitution “was first presented to the American public on September 19, 1787, in the Pennsylvania Packet ” (Meyerson, 140). The Constitution required ratification by state conventions, sparking a “fierce struggle that might have gone either way, [as] is plain in the records and newspaper accounts” (Rossiter, 276). This rare collection of five December 1787 issues of the Pennsylvania Packet stands out for its coverage of debates in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Pennsylvania Packet contains “source material of unimpeachable richness” (Winterich, 110). Also included in these five issues are articles on the slave trade, international politics, various executions and trials, crime reports and much more. Each issue generally fresh with only light marginal dampstaining, trace of edge-wear. A very rare extremely good collection.