Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 14

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1776.) "The Lottery Magazine" with an early British printing of the Declaration of Independence, and a New York map, July through October 1776, bound with several other English periodicals. 15 maps, plans and plates, plus text illustrations. 12 magazine issues bound in one volume. 8vo, contemporary ½ calf over marbled boards, moderate wear, some loss to backstrip; 1822 owner's signature and later inked owner's stamp on front pastedown, with the same stamp appearing on the first magazine page. London, 1758-1781
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Additional Details

"The Lottery Magazine; or, Compleat Fund of Literary, Political and Commercial Knowledge" was a competitor to the more commonly seen Gentleman's Magazine, a general-interest magazine which was rich in coverage of the American Revolution. It was launched in July 1776, so its first four issues (bound in this volume) cover important ground.

The editors were apparently sympathetic to the American cause. The inaugural July 1776 issue (bound with its engraved collective title) imagines a comparison of England and America, "Two Hundred Years Hence." They imagine London in 1976 as "a Village supporting a few Fishermen, who make a wretched subsistence," with St. Paul's Church serving as a brothel; while Philadelphia would be "an Imperial City, rich in all the products of the earth."

The August 1776 issue starts with a portrait and life of British General Guy Carleton. The big news was near the rear, though: a full printing of the Declaration of Independence on pages 83-85, signed in type by John Hancock. On page 109 is an extract of a letter from General Howe dated from Staten Island on 8 July: "Several men have, within these two days, come over to this island, and to the ships, and I am informed that the Continental Congress have declared the United Colonies free and independent states." The issue contains English news dated through 24 August, and other American intelligence through 9 July. Given the lag time in news crossing the Atlantic, this was one of the early magazine printings of the Declaration in Great Britain, although priority is impossible to determine.

The September 1776 issue also contains a beauty: a folding "Plan of the City of New York," 8 x 10 inches. It details the streets of lower Manhattan from the Battery to approximately Grand Street with nothing but farmland extending to its north. A legend of 28 public buildings is keyed throughout the blocks, including the college, prison, markets, churches, and the 1730 synagogue on Mill Street--the first building built for use as a synagogue in America. This is one of the first New York maps published after independence. See Haskell 424; Jolly LOT 1. On the final page, we find news of the Declaration's reception in New York: "July 11. On Wednesday last the declaration of independence was read at the head of each brigade of the continental army, posted at and near New-York, and every where received with loud huzzas, and the utmost demonstrations of joy. The same evening the equestrian statue of George III, which tory pride and folly raised in the year 1770, was, by the sons of freedom, laid prostrate in the dirt. The lead wherewith this monument was made, is to be run into bullets to assimilate with the brains of our infatuated adversaries, who to gain a pepper-corn, have lost an empire."

That's hard to top; the October 1776 issue does have a nice "Plan of the City of Quebec," and Lord Howe's account of the British victory in the Battle of Long Island.

Also bound in this volume are 8 other English magazine issues, none approaching the Lottery Magazine in importance. Bound before the Lottery Magazine are 3 issues of the Monthly Miscellany, for January, February, and March 1774 (lacking title pages); and the St. James's Magazine for September 1762. Bound after the Lottery Magazine are the Universal Magazine for June 1758; the London Register for January 1762 (title page defective); "The Beauties of all Magazines Selected" for February 1762 (lacking preliminaries); and the London Magazine for January 1781 (including a report on the Major André trials, but lacking the advertised "Chart of the Northern Ocean"). Full collation available upon request.

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