The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, And That of the...
1807 Printing of the Massachusetts "Civic Bible" that Belonged to an Important Vermont Collector [Massachusetts]. The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, And That of the United States; The Declaration of Independence, With President Washington's Farewell Address. Printed by Order of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, And by Them Recommended to the Inhabitants of the Several Towns, To be Read as a School Book in All the Common Schools. Brookfield: Printed by E. Merriam & Co. for Isaiah Thomas, Jun., June, 1807. 108 pp. Octavo (6-1/2" x 4"; 16.5 x 10.2 cm). Contemporary quarter sheep over paper-covered wooden boards. Faint spotting to boards, moderate rubbing with some wear to spine ends, board edges and corners, hinges cracked, first signature nearly detached, pictorial bookplate and manuscript note of Hall Park McCullough to front pastedown. Moderate browning to interior, negligible faint dampstaining in places. A good unrestored copy with a notable provenance. $750. * With the first twelve amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In the early 19th century, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts believed that for a republic to survive, its citizens needed to be "literate" in their own government from a young age. By bundling the state and federal constitutions with the Declaration of Independence and Washington's Farewell Address, they created a "civic bible" for students. These were issued by several Massachusetts publishers in the early 1800s. This imprint unites two great early publishers of central Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, Jr, of Worcester, son of the pioneering American printer-publisher Isaiah Thomas, and Ebenezer Merriam of Brookfield, founder of the Merriam publishing firm, which became a national institution when it became the publisher of Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language. Hall Park McCullough [1872-1966], a member of a distinguished Vermont family, was the son of Vermont governor John G. McCullough and one of the founders of Bennington College. He was an avid and discerning connoisseur who assembled notable collections of coins, manuscripts, maps, books, paintings, drawings and engravings. This imprint not in Cohen.
Price: $750.00
Book number 85995