Beschreibung:

Ten works bound together: 1. [JEFFERSON, THOMAS.] Message from the President of the United States, Communicating Information of the Situation of Sundry Parcels of Ground, in and adjacent to the City of New Orleans. Washington: A. & G. Way, 1808. 4 pp. 2. [DERBIGNY, PIERRE.] Case Laid Before Counsel for their Opinion, on the Claim to the Batture. [New Orleans: c.1807.] Drop-head title. xxix, [3] pp. 3. [LIVINGSTONE, EDWARD.] Examination of the Title of the United States to the Land Called the Batture. [New Orleans: 1808.] Drop-head title. 68 pp. 4. [DU PONCEAU, PETER.] Opinion, on the Case of the Alluvion Land or Batture. [New Orleans: 1808.] Drop-head title. lxxv, [1] pp. 5. Correspondence. [No place or date.] Drop-head title. 15, [1] pp. 6. POYDRAS, JULIEN. A Defense of the Right of the Public to the Batture of New Orleans. Washington: for the Author, 1809. 20 pp. 7. POYDRAS, JULIEN. Further Observations in Support of the Right of the Public. Washington: A. & G. Way, 1809. 24 pp. 8. POYDRAS, JULIEN. Speech of ... in Support of the Right of the Public ... Friday, February 2, 1810. Washington: A. & G. Way, 1810. 29, [3] pp. 9. Documents in Support of the Right of the Inhabitants. Washington: A. & G. Way, 1809. 53, [3] pp. 10. JEFFERSON, THOMAS. The Proceedings of the Government of the United States, in Maintaining the Public Right to the Beach of the Missisipi, Adjacent to New-Orleans, Against the Intrusion of Edward Livingston. New York: Ezra Sargeant, 1812. iv, 5-80 pp. Engraved plan showing the suburb of St. Mary's, the Mississippi River, and the disputed territory near Livingston's levees. 8vo (230 x 130 mm). Untrimmed, partially unopened, stitched, wrappers of last item bound in. Custom chemise, morocco-backed slipcase. A little spotting and dust-soiling, first item lightly toned at head. A series of pamphlets gathered together at the time of publication, and relating to the Batture Controversy in New Orleans. The debate focused on a stretch of beach long used as a common landing stage, but actually in the private ownership of a prominent lawyer, Edwards Livingston. In 1807, he began to develop the land, seeing its potential as a flourishing dockyard. Jefferson took up the case of the city of New Orleans, seizing the land for the Federal government and the public good, and setting in motion a long-running debate on governmental powers. Livingston filed a civil suit against the President, and Jefferson issued the rejoinder bound last in the present volume—one of only three full-scale works published under his name in his lifetime. The suit was dismissed by the Chief Justice. Aside from the two lead figures in the debate, this sammelband includes pamphlets by Derbigny (New Orleans city attorney), Du Ponceau (Livingston's lawyer), and Poydras (poet, public servant, and delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the House of Representatives). Items 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the present volume collate exactly as per the appendices in Livingston's Address to the People of the United States ... with Respect to the Batture. Items 2 and 4 were probably printed separately, and subsequently gathered by Livingston to be included in his work; by contrast, items 3 and 5 were likely printed with that sole intention. Shaw & Shoemaker 16463, 12273/13212, 15442, 14898, not in, 18438, 18439, 21128, 18892, 25742; Sabin not in, not in, 41609, not in, 64844, 64845, 20481/28362, 35912. Acquisition: purchased from William Reese Company, 2001, $10,000.