THE FIRST 63 YEARS OF THE ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758-1820: AN EXCEPTIONAL SOURCE ON THE AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS, WITH EARLY PRINTINGS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION

ANNUAL REGISTER. The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the Year 1758 [-1820]. London: for J. Dodsley, 1758-1823. Sixty-four volumes. Octavo, modern full brown leatherette gilt. $16,000.

Mixed, mostly first edition run of the first 63 years in this important series. This set creates an extraordinary contemporary portrait of America from the earliest days of the Revolution through the creation of our federal government, and includes early printings of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and other important state papers. The Annual Register is a key primary source for the events leading up to the French Revolution as well, providing the historical and intellectual context for editor Edmund Burke’s classic Reflections on the Revolution in France.

The Annual Register originated at the suggestion of Edmund Burke, who was for some years editor and principal contributor. Many leading historians of the American Revolution, including David Ramsay, James Murray and William Gordon, borrowed heavily from the series. The Declaration of Independence appears on pages 261-64 of the 1776 volume and is entitled "Reasons assigned by the Continental Congress, for the North-American Colonies and Provinces withdrawing their allegiance to the King of Great Britain." The Articles of Confederation follow. The Constitution begins on page 289 of the 1787 volume, entitled "Articles of the New Constitution of the United States of America." All of the important political and historical events of the time are detailed in the set, including the Seven Years' War between England and France, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. Also of interest are the contemporary reviews of important literary publications, including Chesterfield's Letters, Smith's Wealth of Nations, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Robertson's History of America, and Cook's Voyages. "This most valuable record and chronicle of historical and political events… contains accurate accounts of the Revolutionary War… and many other American subjects" (Sabin 1614). Each volume contains sections on "The History of Europe," "State Papers," "Characters," "Natural History," "Projects," "Antiquities," "Poetry," and "An Account of Books Published." The 1763 volume has four folding maps bound at rear. Lomazow 12. Lowndes 48. Sabin 1614.All volumes are first editions, with the following exceptions: 1768, 1770, 1771 and 1722 in second edition; 1769 in third edition. With a final index for all of the years included except for the last one (1820). Todd 10-14. Institutional stamps, owner signatures, infrequent early marginalia, mostly in the earliest volumes.

Paper repair to the last page of the volume for 1812, tears with loss of a few letters to a few leaves in the volume for 1792; interiors generally quite clean, with wormholing to a few leaves in the 1765 and 1810 volumes, dampstaining to the 1819 volume. Unusual and desirable with such a lengthy and complete run, covering over 60 years, from the final years of the reign of George II up to the end of the Regency Era.