Journals of the American Congress: From 1774 to 1788. In Four Volumes.

Item Number: 142744

Washington: Printed and Published by Way and Gideon, 1823.

Complete first edition set of the Journals of Congress, covering the First Continental Congress to the final session before the institution of the Federal Constitution, privately printed with Congressional approval in 1823. Octavo, four volumes bound in full contemporary calf, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, rebacked. The Declaration of Independence is printed on pp. 394-396 in the first volume. Published during the period of renewed interest and reflection on the history of the United States in the lead up to the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, this set failed to sell, and after unsuccessfully lobbying the Senate for financial assistance, the House of Representatives, in February 1825, resolved to purchase 300 copies for their members’ use. Provenance: from the library of Samuel Swan with his bookplate to each pastedown. Samuel Swan (1771-1844) was a five-term U.S. Congressman and medical doctor. After studying medicine, Swan began to practice in Bound Brook, from 1800 to 1806 and then moved to Somerville from 1806 to 1809. He was elected to U.S. House of Representatives for the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1821, to March 3, 1831. In very good condition. Additional contemporary ownership signatures to the pastedowns of volumes I, II, and IV.