Urban, Sylvanus [Cave, Edward] [Editor]

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE 1774-1783 [Eleven Volumes] [The American Revolutionary War Years]

London: 1774-1783. First Edition. Octavos, eleven volumes. In Good minus to Very Good minus condition. Bound variously in quarter calf bindings with marbled paper boards or in full speckled brown calf; all volumes with red leather labels bearing gilt titling. All volumes with some rubbing and minor chipping to head and tails of spines and edges and corners of boards; wear and splitting to joints. Surfaces of boards show light to moderate rubbing and shelf wear. All volumes with bookplate and ink library stamp to front pastedown and Folger bookplate and deaccession stamp to rear pastedown (except the volume for 1782, which lacks the bookplate on the front pastedown and the deaccession stamp in the rear).

CONTENTS: Vol. XLIV (1774) ([4], 628, [16] pages). Title page loosening. Lacking "Plate IX. Curiosities of Herculaneum", "View of Bolton Castle", "Plate XI. (marked X.) Curiosities of Herculaneum", and "Map of the Roads from London to Barnard Castle". Other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. XLV (1775) ([iv, 639, [13] pages). "A Plan of the Town and Chart of the Harbour at Boston" inserted after p. 41. Lacking "Map of the Road from London to St. David's", "Plate XII. (marked XI.) of Curiosities of Herculaneum", "Dr. Johnson's introduction to a Highland Hut", "Plate XIII. (marked XII.)", "Map of the Road from London to Norwich", "Map of the Road from London to Shrewsbury", "Map of the Road from York to Chester", "A View of Wingfield Castle", "Plate XIV. (marked XIII. Curiosities of Herculaneum," and "A Map of the Road from London to Barnstaple and Truro". "Plan of the Town of Boston" is inserted after p. 492. Other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. XLVI (1776) ([4], 609, [15] pages). Lacking "Dr. Johnson's Entertainment at a Highland Change or Inn" and "Map of Connecticut and Rhode Island". "Map of New York" bound in after p. 606. Other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. XLVII (1777) ([4], 642, [14] pages). "A Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent" and "Portrait of Lazarus Coloredo" are inserted after p. 572. "A Bird, the Hoopoe" is inserted before p. 313. Lacking "Roman Inscriptions at Nismes". All other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. XLVIII (1778) ([4], 645, [15] pages). Lacking "View of Woolsthorp House", "View of the Cascade of Velika Gubaviza", and "The Larva of the Moth Sphinx Atropos"; all other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. XLIX (1779) ([4], 649, [15] pages). Front board shaken; free endpaper loose but present. "Elevation of the Back of the North Front of Somerset House" inserted after p. 392. All other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. L (1780) ([4], 628, [16] pages). Front board shaken. Lacking "Portrait of Joseph Highmore"; all other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. LI (1781) ([3], 598-600, iii-iv, 633, [15] pages). Lacking "Four Figures illustrating the doctrine of Water-spouts"; all other plates present as listed in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. LII (1782) (iv, 631, [17] pages. Lacking "Portrait of George Sandys [etc.]", "View of the Temple of the Sepulchre"; other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. LIII, Part 1 (1783) (iv, 543, [1] pages). Some margins narrowly trimmed resulting in minor loss at edges of pages. All plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.
Vol. LIII, Part 2 (1783) ([2], 545-1067, [27] pages. Lacking "Elevation of the Front of the Cathedral at Lisieux"; other plates present as described in Charles St. Barbe.

1389062

Special Collections

Price: $12,000

NOTES

The Gentleman’s Magazine was established in 1731 as a monthly publication by Edward Cave, a London printer and editor. It was the first publication to use the term “magazine” with reference to a publication (the term previously had been used only to refer to a storehouse of physical goods). In keeping with Cave’s vision for the magazine as a “storehouse” of knowledge for the informed gentleman, it featured articles on a wide array of subjects including contemporary politics, history, science, archaeology, geography, literature, music, and economics. The Gentleman’s Magazine continued in regular publication until 1907, with occasional issues printed until 1922.

Sabin 26954; Matyas 76-05. The 1776 volume contains an early non-broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence. Matyas points out that “[t]he words ‘King’ and ‘Prince’ are deleted and replaced with a solid line” and that the “words ‘tyranny’, ‘tyrants’, and ‘tyrant’ are deleted and replaced with a single letter ‘t’ followed by a solid line.” All volumes from the American Revolutionary War period include articles on the current state of the conflict as seen from the British perspective, from the Boston Tea Party to the ratification of the Treaty of Paris. Shelved Room G.