1784 GENTLEMAN ' S MAG Captain Cook HAWAII George Washington REVOLUTIONARY WAR 80p
Item History & Price
*July, 1784* GENTLEMAN'S MAG w/MUCH American News (see below). Approaches FINE. Complete with 2 Plates.1st/1st. Illustrated with an dated elegant plates, including BIG fold-out; illustrated masthead, etc. AUTHENTIC. THICK: 80+pp (content and condition details discussed below). LONDON. W/social, historical meteorological and financial info; science and exploration; political essays; commonwealth news; etc. GREAT... PERIOD CONTENT.
Contents Highlights... Frontispiece folding copper engraved plate ([WEBBER, John, c.1752-1793, artist]), sheet 215 x 260 mm, plate 185 x 240 mm, after John Webber, A Canoe of the Sandwich Islands, the Rowers Masked; Illustrated with a second (non-folding) plate with an engraving of the obverse and reverse of the Royal Society's medal for Captain Cook, described in detail in a letter to the editor on p.483, beginning: "Mr. Urban, it gives me pleasure to send you an early copy of a Medal lately struck to perpetuate the memory of Capt. Cook, the execution of which is equal to the subject..."; Much on General Greene in the Revolutionary War... A Hawaiian canoe... a meeting with George Washington... Etc.; The issue begins with a description of a medal created in honor of the late Capt. Cook and which is accompanied by a plate of it . The front page also has an article: "Canoe of the Sandwich Islands Described (which is Hawaii), which is also accompanied by a great foldout plate; Another article of interest is: "Memoirs of Major-General Greene, in the American Service, late Commander in Chief in South Carolina" which takes over 2 1/2 pages and includes discussion of some of his major battles and a very nice review of his efforts in the Revolutionary War. "Foreign Intelligence" which has half a column of: "Advices from America" concerning a meeting of the Cincinnati Society in Philadelphia which elected George Washington as its chairman. There is also "By the King, a Proclamation" which mentions the treaty of peace with America. Both of the two plates called for are present and noted above.Additional news (literary; historical; natural history; world; etc.please see scan of Contents). MUCH MORE.THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE."More In Quantity and greater Variety than any Book of the Mind and Price."By Sylvanus Urban, Gent.London: July 1784. Printed by J. Nicholas, for D. Henry, late of St. John's Gate.All plates present, one being a large foldout.
About the publication FOUNDED BY EDWARD CAVE IN 1731 UNDER HIS FAMOUS PSEUDONYM "SYLVANUS URBAN, " THIS'S WIDELY CONSIDERED THE MOST IMPORTANT, AUTHORITATIVE PERIODICAL OF ITS AGE. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE IS RENOWNED AS A PRIMARY SOURCE INTELLIGENCE SOURCE CONCERNING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. IT INFLUENCED COLONIAL-AMERICA PUBLISHER (E.G., BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S 18TH-CENTURY GENERAL MAGAZINE WAS CHIEFLY PATTERNED AFTER GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE). THIS "NEWS-MONTHLY" PUBLISHED ARTICLES CONCERNING HISTORY, SCIENCE, POLITICS, CURRENT EVENTS ETC, AS NOTED IN THIS ISSUE. AS IT EVOLVED, THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE REFLECTED ENGLAND'S CONCERN OVER THE COLONIES (AMERICA)... AND DEVELOPING REVOLUTIONARY FORCES; INDEED, MANY OF THE PRIMARY REPORTS ON OCCURRENCES IN THE COLONIES DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (AND A RICH SOURCE OF MODERN SCHOLARSHIP) ARE CONTAINED W/IN THE MAGAZINE.
An Aside... The "S" that Looks Like an "F"...In the old Anglo-Saxon alphabet, from which the English alphabet is derived, the small "s: was written in two forms: one is the "long s" that resembles our modern letter "f" (but note, it does not have the center bar), which is used when the "s" is the first letter of the word, or the first of a pair of "s's"; the other is the familiar shaped "s" which appears at the end of words. This usage is cognate to the two forms of "s" in the Greek alphabet. English printer John Bell first phased out the use of the long "s" in his books at the end of the 1700's, and by 1810 or so the new practice was universal in printed material. Interestingly, though, the use of the old long "s" continued in handwritten documents for many years, through the 1870's. DETAILS/CONDITION. July, 1784. *1st/1st*. Authentic period publication. True 1st... stab holes present. Approx. 8" x 5" Printed for D. Henry, at St. John's Gate. Browning to several leaves. Illustrated as noted and pictured. All plates present. THICK: approx. 80pp. Illustrated masthead. Overall, in excellent condition. Textblock uncommonly FINE. Periodical is crisp, white, bright, tight, clean, etc. LOW OPENING BID; and at auction... WITHOUT RESERVE! PLEASE READ!! IMPORTANT AUCTION INFORMATION: Our entire CUSTOMER SERVICE and RETURN POLICY is simply this:
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The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. -- GEORGE WASHINGTON.
