Declaration of Independence in the Annual Register of 1776...

Item # 619362

Currently Unavailable. Contact us if you would like to be placed on a want list or to be notified if a similar item is available.

January 01, 1776

"THE ANNUAL REGISTER, Or A View of the History, Politics & Literature, For the Year 1776" The "Annual Register" was created in London in 1758 by the publishers James and Robert Dodsley, conceived as an annual publication which would review the history, politics and literature of the day. They employed Edmund Burke to do much of the writing. By the 1760s The Annual Register had established itself as amongst the most respected journals in print. Joseph Sabin notes: "This most valuable record and chronicle of historical and political events for over a hundred years contains accurate accounts of the Revolutionary War...".
Certainly the most noteworthy report is what is generally considered the first printing in an English book of the Declaration of Independence, on pp.261-70. But this volume has more than the text of the Declaration; it has an account of the Declaration being read to the Continental Army: "...every where received with loud huzzas..." and: "...almost every other town of the united colonies...". An analysis of the event in the History of Europe section notes: "...The fatal day at length arrived...when thirteen English colonies in America declared themselves free and independent states, abjured all allegiance to the British crown, and renounced all political connexion with this country...it contains a long catalogue of grievances, with not fewer invectives' and not more temperate in style or composition, than it is in act.".
The volume also contains an extended description of the events of the war, including the first victory of the war for George Washington, the evacuation of the British Army from Boston after the surprise erection of wooden works on Dorchester Heights on March 5, 1776, and so much more.
Included also is an early draft of what would become the Articles of Confederation. It is prefaced: “These articles of Confederation, after having been long weighed and discussed, line by line, in the Congress, were at length resolved upon and signed by all the Delegates, the 4th of October, 1776, at Philadelphia, such as they are here set forth; and in consequence were immediately sent to the other states to be confirmed by them.” (see)
The Revolutionary War was obviously big news in England and being a British publication the Annual Register provides extensive coverage of the Parliamentary debates. And since Edmund Burke and his friends wrote and edited the Annual Register, the perspective provided is generally anti-war and anti-Administration.
At least four editions of the 1776 Annual Register were published. This is a first edition.
Very handsomely bound in three-quarter leather with gold ink & marbled boards. Bindings show very little wear. Measures 5 by 8 1/2 inches. The volume is held in a custom-made case, with with leather spine, marbled boards, dovetailed maple wood, with a magnetic clasp (itself a fine example of craftsmanship: see photos).

Category: Revolutionary War