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Auction archive: Lot number 78

ELLERY, William, Signer (Rhode Island) . SHARP, ANTHONY. The Lancaster Pocket Almanack, For the Year 1778. Being the Third Year of American Independency. Lancaster: Francis Bailey 1778.

Auction 09.12.1998
9 Dec 1998
Estimate
US$10,000 - US$15,000
Price realised:
US$9,200
Auction archive: Lot number 78

ELLERY, William, Signer (Rhode Island) . SHARP, ANTHONY. The Lancaster Pocket Almanack, For the Year 1778. Being the Third Year of American Independency. Lancaster: Francis Bailey 1778.

Auction 09.12.1998
9 Dec 1998
Estimate
US$10,000 - US$15,000
Price realised:
US$9,200
Beschreibung:

ELLERY, William, Signer (Rhode Island) . SHARP, ANTHONY. The Lancaster Pocket Almanack, For the Year 1778. Being the Third Year of American Independency. Lancaster: Francis Bailey 1778. 32 o 48pp., 103 x 68mm. (46 x 2.5/8 in.). 24 pages printed text, 24 blank pages for notes. Last leaf [tables of mileage and interest] slightly defective at top and bottom with loss of parts of a dozen words and one letter of heading. Original pale green paper wrappers. (Worn, spine defective). Evans 15580; Drake 10057; Hildeburn 3635; ESTC WO32747. WILLIAM ELLERY'S COPY: Upper cover with ink signature "William Ellery," and his note "Lancaster Pocket Almanack for 1778," with Ellery's autograph notes, records and jottings throughout the blank pages. WILLIAM ELLERY'S POCKET ALMANACK FOR THE CRUCIAL YEAR 1778 A rare pocket almanack printed in Lancaster, and of special interest since it was used as a pocket diary and notebook by Ellery, one of two Rhode Island delegates to the Continental Congress (he served from 1776 to 1785). Ellery probably purchased the almanack in late 1777 in Lancaster, where Congress had hastily fled when the British took Philadelphia; from late September to June of 1778 it met in York. Ellery records that on "18 June The Enemy left Philadelphia our Troops took Possession 28 June"; on a later page he notes "June 27. Congress adjourned to meet at Phila[delph]ia." Next to the page for July, Ellery records Congress's return to Philadelphia in time for an important observance: "July 4th The anniversary of Independence was celebrated by Congress at Philadelphia." On the same page, he records news in the wake of the Battle of Monmouth: "Genl. Washington July 7th says, that by accounts from Monmouth, the numbers of the enemy buried by the Army & Inhabs amounted to upwards of 300." In that same eventful month, Ellery memorializes another key event, his signing, for Rhode Island, of the Articles of Confederation, noting simply, "I signed the Confedn. July 9th 1778." In March, an event of diplomatic significance prompts the note: "20th March Dr Franklin presented in form as Ambassador to the Court of France and graciously received and an Ambassador appd. for these [United] States by that Court." In May, other diplomatic news is noted: "Treaties with France arrived the 2nd May. Were ratified the 4th" (referring to the crucial Treaty of Amity & Commerce). Occasionally Ellery records financial transactions; one, in June, concerns funds for "part of a Warrant drawn by John Hancock...in favor of ye Del[egate]s of Rhode Island..." Dates on which the Court of Appeals sits and adjourns are noted by Ellery and lists of items he is to purchase for friends: "1 penknife," "12 dark blue waistcoat buttons," "2 Bottles Westerns Snuff"; at one place he notes "There is glass to be had in Boston...inquire of Brailsford neare the dock, a little south of Hancock's wharf..." Elsewhere he writes excerpts from a book on Sicily, lists of law books, the numbers of lottery tickets, the wording of an official document ("The people of ye State of N.Y. by ye G[race] of God free & ind[ependant] to all whom these presents come") and the names of the tribes of the Iroquois Confederation ("Mohawks, Oneidas, Tuscaroras..."). Inside the front cover Ellery copies verses on George III and Benjamin Franklin "Whilst you Great George for knowledge hunt... the Empire's out of joint, Franklin a wiser plan pursues, and all your Thunder useless views, By keeping to the point." Provenance : By direct descent from William Ellery (1727-1820) to Ethyl Mae Ellery, thence to her husband George Jeffries, from whom it was acquired by the present owner some years ago.

Auction archive: Lot number 78
Auction:
Datum:
9 Dec 1998
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
Beschreibung:

ELLERY, William, Signer (Rhode Island) . SHARP, ANTHONY. The Lancaster Pocket Almanack, For the Year 1778. Being the Third Year of American Independency. Lancaster: Francis Bailey 1778. 32 o 48pp., 103 x 68mm. (46 x 2.5/8 in.). 24 pages printed text, 24 blank pages for notes. Last leaf [tables of mileage and interest] slightly defective at top and bottom with loss of parts of a dozen words and one letter of heading. Original pale green paper wrappers. (Worn, spine defective). Evans 15580; Drake 10057; Hildeburn 3635; ESTC WO32747. WILLIAM ELLERY'S COPY: Upper cover with ink signature "William Ellery," and his note "Lancaster Pocket Almanack for 1778," with Ellery's autograph notes, records and jottings throughout the blank pages. WILLIAM ELLERY'S POCKET ALMANACK FOR THE CRUCIAL YEAR 1778 A rare pocket almanack printed in Lancaster, and of special interest since it was used as a pocket diary and notebook by Ellery, one of two Rhode Island delegates to the Continental Congress (he served from 1776 to 1785). Ellery probably purchased the almanack in late 1777 in Lancaster, where Congress had hastily fled when the British took Philadelphia; from late September to June of 1778 it met in York. Ellery records that on "18 June The Enemy left Philadelphia our Troops took Possession 28 June"; on a later page he notes "June 27. Congress adjourned to meet at Phila[delph]ia." Next to the page for July, Ellery records Congress's return to Philadelphia in time for an important observance: "July 4th The anniversary of Independence was celebrated by Congress at Philadelphia." On the same page, he records news in the wake of the Battle of Monmouth: "Genl. Washington July 7th says, that by accounts from Monmouth, the numbers of the enemy buried by the Army & Inhabs amounted to upwards of 300." In that same eventful month, Ellery memorializes another key event, his signing, for Rhode Island, of the Articles of Confederation, noting simply, "I signed the Confedn. July 9th 1778." In March, an event of diplomatic significance prompts the note: "20th March Dr Franklin presented in form as Ambassador to the Court of France and graciously received and an Ambassador appd. for these [United] States by that Court." In May, other diplomatic news is noted: "Treaties with France arrived the 2nd May. Were ratified the 4th" (referring to the crucial Treaty of Amity & Commerce). Occasionally Ellery records financial transactions; one, in June, concerns funds for "part of a Warrant drawn by John Hancock...in favor of ye Del[egate]s of Rhode Island..." Dates on which the Court of Appeals sits and adjourns are noted by Ellery and lists of items he is to purchase for friends: "1 penknife," "12 dark blue waistcoat buttons," "2 Bottles Westerns Snuff"; at one place he notes "There is glass to be had in Boston...inquire of Brailsford neare the dock, a little south of Hancock's wharf..." Elsewhere he writes excerpts from a book on Sicily, lists of law books, the numbers of lottery tickets, the wording of an official document ("The people of ye State of N.Y. by ye G[race] of God free & ind[ependant] to all whom these presents come") and the names of the tribes of the Iroquois Confederation ("Mohawks, Oneidas, Tuscaroras..."). Inside the front cover Ellery copies verses on George III and Benjamin Franklin "Whilst you Great George for knowledge hunt... the Empire's out of joint, Franklin a wiser plan pursues, and all your Thunder useless views, By keeping to the point." Provenance : By direct descent from William Ellery (1727-1820) to Ethyl Mae Ellery, thence to her husband George Jeffries, from whom it was acquired by the present owner some years ago.

Auction archive: Lot number 78
Auction:
Datum:
9 Dec 1998
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
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