Journals of Congress: Containing the Proceedings From Sept. 5. 1774 to Jan. 1. 1776.

ORDER OF CONGRESS,.

Item Number: 92526

Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by R. Aitken, 1777.

Scarce and important first edition of the first volume of Robert Aitken’s publication of the Journals of Congress; one of the earliest printed books to chronicle the birth of the United States. Octavo, bound in contemporary boards. Aitken was licensed by Congress to publish the Journals, which originally appeared in monthly serials, in September of 1776. This first volume in the series contains records of Congress’s proceedings from September 5, 1774 through December 30, 1775. In September of 1777, Congress was forced to flee Philadelphia when the British army marched into and began occupation in the city. Subsequently, Aitken’s press and the many copies of the first two volumes of the Journals were destroyed (Evans 15683; Sabin 480). In good condition. From the library of William Greene, the second Governor of Rhode Island (1776 – 1786) and one of the signer’s of Rhode Island’s Declaration of Independence, with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper. An exceptional example of the utmost rarity and with noted provenance.

This exceedingly rare first edition of Volume I of the 13 separately issued Journals of Congress contains the official records of the First and Second Continental Congress from September to October 1774, and the first seven months of the Second Continental Congress, from May to December 1775—providing unmatched contemporary insight into the decisive moments of America's early years. As such, "the Journals of the Congress formed the only central record of the colonies and the subsequent states" (Tanenbaum, 12). This important volume, printed in Philadelphia by Aitken at the order of Congress, records the uncertainty of a time when "it was apparent to no one… that the Congress of deputies gathering in the Carpenters' Hall would be the seed from which a government… would emerge" (Powell, 36). In particular, Volume I details the two major questions that most occupied the First Continental Congress: "what was the basis of American rights and how should they be defended?" (Middlekauff, 243). Elemental to that quest is the printing of Joseph Warren's Suffolk Resolves, which were adopted in Massachusetts on September 9 and immediately carried by Paul Revere to Philadelphia, denouncing "the Attempts of a wicked Administration to enslave America" (15). Also included are: John Jay's eloquent Address to the People of Great Britain (38-45); John Dickinson's Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec (58-65), and the Petition of Congress—co-authored by Richard Henry Lee, Dickinson, John Adams and Patrick Henry—which was passed on the final day of the First Continental Congress and sent to Franklin in Britain only to be summarily dismissed by George III (67-72).