Jun 21, 2018 - Sale 2483

Sale 2483 - Lot 168

Price Realized: $ 9,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000
BUILDING MAINE'S OLDEST LIGHTHOUSE JEFFERSON, THOMAS. Printed Document Signed, "Th:Jefferson," as Secretary of State, an act of the First Congress: "An Act Authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to Finish the Light-House, on Portland-Head, in the District of Maine." Printed in New York by Childs and Swaine in 1790. 9 3/4x7 1/4 inches; light folds, minor foxing, mount remnants on verso, neatly torn on left edge from an integral blank or larger volume. New York, 10 August 1790

Additional Details

An act of Congress to complete the Portland Head Light, also known as the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse. Construction had started in 1787, and with the help of the $1500 authorized by this bill, was completed in early 1791. It still stands today, on the southern approach to Portland's harbor, as Maine's oldest lighthouse, and one of the most iconic lighthouses in the country.
This bill does not appear in Evans or the English Short Title Catalogue. It may have been originally published as part of a 4-page compilation, "Congress of the United States: at the Second Session . . . Four Acts, Approved Aug. 10-11, 1790" (ESTC W14348), for which ESTC traces just two copies. Only one other stand-alone copy of this act has been traced at auction.