Books and Manuscripts

No place (likely Boston), July, 1779. Single sheet, 10 x 15 3/4 in. (254 x 400 mm). Manuscript document, signed by Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Massachusetts, Samuel Adams (1722-1803), as Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, appointing Grafton Gardner a judge of the probate court; counter-signed by Continental Army Major General Artemas Ward, as well as Jabez Fisher, Jeremiah Powell, and three others. Creasing from old folds; 3 1/2 x 7 3/4 in. section excised from bottom left; multiple closed tears in top margin; wax seal present and intact. In mat and in frame, 17 1/2 x 23 in. (445 x 584 mm).