Printed & Manuscript Americana

Swann Auction Galleries Sale #2758: Following on the heels of our record-setting semiquincentennial auction, the American Revolution is shaping to be a strength of the November sale. The highlight at press time is a nearly complete volume of the Pennsylvania Journal newspaper from May 1774 to December 1775, covering the first few months of the American Revolution. It includes reports on the first meeting of Continental Congress, George Washington's appointment as "Generalissimo," and the Battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. Bound in is a special treat: a broadside response by Congress to the king's "Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition," printed by John Dunlap, of Declaration of Independence fame. We find no others on the market since 1981.

We will feature a nice hand-colored example of the classic tar-and-feathers print, "A New Method of Macarony Making, as Practiced at Boston in North America." Also from the Revolutionary era is a 1796 "Collection of Speeches of the President of the United States," by George Washington, including his famous correspondence with the Hebrew Congregation in Newport. Other American Judaica will include the complete first year of "The Jew; being a Defence of Judaism against all Adversaries," the first American magazine on Judaism, from 1824.

We also expect the sale to be strong in exploration and travel, Latin Americana, and the Civil War.