Jun 21, 2016 - Sale 2420

Sale 2420 - Lot 36

Price Realized: $ 11,875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1776.) A collection of Pennsylvania Gazette issues from before and during the Revolution. 32 non-continuous issues, each 4 pages, 16 1/2 x 10 inches, plus 3 single-sheet postscript supplements; disbound, intermittent foxing and wear including a few excised sections; names of subscribers Thomas and John Fleet (Boston printers) inked in upper margins of most issues. Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1772-76
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Additional Details

A large and important collection of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Benjamin Franklin's former newspaper, covering the first Committee of Correspondence, the British evacuation of Boston, and more. 28 of these issues date from before the beginning of the war. The 18 November 1772 issue reports on the formation of the first standing Committee of Correspondence in Boston: "It was then moved that a Committee of Correspondence be appointed, to consist of Twenty-One Persons, to state the Rights of the Colonies and of this Province in particular, as Men, as Christians, and as Subjects." A postscript supplement to the 2 November 1774 issue includes minutes of the Continental Congress, as well as the full 5 September 1774 letter from Congress which begins "When a nation, led to greatness by the hand of Liberty." The 9 November 1774 issue and its postscript publishes the full "Address to the Inhabitants of the Colonies."
The collection also includes four war-date issues. The 13 December 1775 issue includes the Continental Congress response to Britain's rejection of the Olive Branch Petition and two Benedict Arnold letters from Canada; the 20 December 1775 issue reports on the Battle of Great Bridge. The 21 February 1776 issue includes an advertisement for a new edition of Paine's Common Sense. Finally, the 3 April 1776 issue has the biggest news of all: "The British army in Boston . . . after suffering an ignominious blockade for many months past, disgracefully quitted all their strong holds in Boston and Charlestown, fled from before the army of the United Colonies, and took refuge on board their ships." A full inventory is available upon request.