“THE MAGNA CARTA OF THE UNITED STATES”: RARE FIRST EDITION OF CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SEVERAL INDEPENDENT STATES OF AMERICA, 1781, WITH THE “FIRST AUTHORIZED” PRINTING IN BOOK FORM OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, ONE OF ONLY 200 COPIES

(CONSTITUTION) (DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE). The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America; The Declaration of Independence; The Articles of Confederation Between the Said States; The Treaties Between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America. Philladelphia [sic]: Printed by Francis Bailey, 1781. Small octavo (4-1/8 by 6-1/2 inches), rebound in contemporary full brown tree morocco gilt, burgundy morocco spine label.

Exceedingly rare and important first collected edition of the Constitutions of the 13 American states, one of only 200 copies printed for Congress, containing the “first authorized reprint in book form of the Declaration of Independence,” along with key early printings of the Articles of Confederation and major early treaties, handsomely bound.

Published by order of Congress, this exceedingly rare and important volume assembles the first authoritative and original printed text of the constitutions of the 13 states, and most notably "contains the first authorized reprint in book form of the Declaration of Independence. Two hundred copies were printed" (emphasis in original, Matyas 81-01). Along with this seminal printing of Declaration and the 13 state constitutions, Constitutions of the Several Independent States contains early printings of the Articles of Confederation, the 1778 treaty of amity and commerce with France (the first treaty between the United States and another country) and the treaty of alliance with France (assuring the French of an alliance should their recognition of the United States lead to war with Britain). "It contains a greater portion of unsophisticated wisdom and good sense, than is, perhaps, to be met with in any other legislative code that was ever yet framed. It is, in short, the book which may be considered the Magna Carta of the United American States" (Monthly Review). Constitutional scholars, such as Adams in First American Constitutions (2001), have demonstrated the vital influence of state constitutions on the 1787 Federal Constitution. First edition: mispagination as issued of page 208 as "108." While the imprint reads Philadelphia, this volume was actually published by Bailey in Lancaster, where he had moved with Congress after the British occupation of Philadelphia began in September 1781. Exceptionally scarce, with copies located in the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale of France, the Library of Congress, American Antiquarian Society, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Rosenbach Museum, Princeton, Yale, Columbia and Harvard. Sabin 16086. Howes C716. Evans 17390. ESTC W20083. Adams 81-741. NYU Law Catalogue, 47. Contemporary owner signature on first page of text inked out, affecting text on verso.

Text expertly cleaned, with occasional faint marginal dampstaining. A beautifully bound copy of this important cornerstone of American constitutional history.