Manhattan Rare Book Company

FIRST ISSUES OF THE FIRST TWO JOURNALS OF CONGRESS (1774, 1775) WITH IMPORTANT PROVENANCE.

The critically important Journals of Congress for 1774 and 1775 document an extraordinary political progression: from the colonies’ first coordinated assertion of rights in 1774, through armed conflict and the emergence of continental government in 1775, to the Congress that declared independence in 1776.

THOMAS HEYWARD JR.’S COPY, with his ownership signature on title:

Heyward was a member of the Continental Congress (representing South Carolina) and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. The Journals of 1774 and 1775 are the printed record of the Continental Congress immediately preceding Heyward’s own service in that body.

Heyward took his seat in 1776, replacing Christopher Gadsden and inheriting the political and institutional work recorded in these volumes. The journals preserve the proceedings through which colonial resistance became continental government: the Declaration of Rights, the Continental Association, the addresses to Great Britain and Quebec, and, after Lexington and Concord, the military and political measures of 1775. The latter include George Washington’s appointment as commander in chief, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, the Olive Branch Petition, and negotiations with the Six Nations.

In 1776, Heyward joined the institution whose development these journals document. He voted for independence and signed the engrossed Declaration. His subsequent Revolutionary service extended beyond Congress: he was wounded at Beaufort in 1779, captured following the fall of Charleston in 1780, and held prisoner at St. Augustine.

Both journals are first issues. The 1774 Journal is the 132-page issue, without the petition to the King. The 1775 Journal is without the names of Hancock and Thomson on p. 239. Each with half-title and Bradford woodcut title vignette. Philadelphia: William and Thomas Bradford, 1774; 1775. Octavo (197x114mm), two volumes in one. Contemporary calf, expertly rebacked to style. Contemporary manuscript numerical notations in the margins. Scattered marginal toning.

PROVENANCE: Thomas Heyward Jr. (1746–1809), South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and Signer of the Declaration of Independence (ownership signature on the 1774 title); Benjamin Heyward (armorial bookplate).

REFERENCES: Evans 13737, 14569; Howes J263, J264; Reese, The Revolutionary Hundred, 20.

Price: $185,000 .