(PERIODICALS) The American Apollo

Sale 2633 - Lot 141

Price Realized: $ 812

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(PERIODICALS.) The American Apollo. [2], 4, 116; 227, [241]-300; [94] pages. 8vo, later 1/2 calf, minor wear; introductory leaves and final page worn with some reinforcement, moderate foxing, lacking issue 21; wrappers inscribed with name of subscriber John J. Clarke. Boston, 6 January to 29 June 1792

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Additional Details

This weekly general-interest magazine was launched in 1792. Articles include l'Enfant's note on laying out the District of Columbia (pages 8-11), debates over the Northwest Indian Wars (pages 40-42, 57-67, etc.); the Haitian Revolution (page 165, etc.); and much more.

The magazine was issued in conjunction with the newly formed Massachusetts Historical Society, the first historical society in America. Each issue came with two parts: "Historical Collections" (relating to Massachusetts), and "Essays, Moral, Political and Poetical, and the Daily Occurrences in the Natural, Civil, and Commercial World"--each with their own separate pagination. This volume begins with the constitution of the Massachusetts Historical Society; a 3-page introductory address; 116 pages of the Historical Collections (most relating to the 1746 expedition against Cape Breton, all issued with No. 1?); followed by the first 26 issues of the "Essays" magazine portion minus the missing issue 21; followed by the original printed wrappers for issues 2 through 20 and 22 through 26. The issue #14 wrapper has been bound at the front of the volume, to serve as a makeshift title page.

After the period covered in this volume, 13 more issues of American Apollo were published in octavo magazine format, through 28 September 1792. It then transformed into a folio newspaper and continued through 1794. We track no other runs of the American Apollo magazine since 1922. Sabin 1054; Lomazow 29.