Books and Manuscripts

Albany: Printed by Charles R. & George Webster, (1791-92). Second edition (with 8 pp. list of subscriber's, and nine sections, each with separate title-pages, pagination, and signatures--except for the second collection of letters, that has continuous pagination). Some references indicate various states of title-page, this appears to be the earliest issue, without the addition of Rights of Man, Part the Second. 8vo. xii, 60; (ii), 186; 41, (1); 70; (ii), 24; 124 pp. (presumably lacking three blanks). Full contemporary tree calf, rebacked, stamped in gilt, red morocco spine label, extremities worn; all edges trimmed; subscriber Henry Quackenboss of Albany's copy, with his signature on title-page (his name printed on p. x of subscriber's list); small repair in bottom gutter of title-page. Evans 24658; Sabin 58247; Howes P 34

Henry Quackenboss (1737-1813) was a colonel of the Albany Militia during the American Revolution and member of the Albany Committee of Safety. He fought alongside Horatio Gates in the Battle of Saratoga, and after the British surrender there he was responsible for the care of British General John Burgoyne, when he is reputed to have been kept as a prisoner in Quackenboss's Albany home at 638 Broadway. Earlier in his military career Quackenboss fought alongside Lord Amherst during the Seven's Year War when the British took Fort Ticonderoga from the French. He served in the New York State Assembly in 1779, and later as a presidential elector in 1804.