Skip to main content

The Beckley-Lincoln Book

Debates, Resolutions & Other Proceedings, of The Convention of the
Commonwealth of MA to Which the Federal Constitution is Prefixed
The 1789 title page inscribed by the owner,
John James Beckley
Once in a while. Once in a while you see a book that is so much more than a book. More than a leather binding and all the wear of the dirty fingertips over tallow candles. Sometimes you find a book that talks and breathes, that lives its history and the history of our nation with it. I want to tell you about John Beckley's book. It almost certainly wasn't his only book. He was a learned man. The largest collection of books in the country at that time was probably Thomas Jefferson-- some 6,500 volumes. More typically, people owned a few volumes and the very wealthy maybe owned a few dozen. As Brian Hoey once said, "Some studies suggest that as many 60 percent of colonial households owned at least one book". And more to the point, "..while many people owned a few books, few people owned many books." Even among those who did, every book was priceless.

When at first I spotted this copy of, Debates, Resolutions & Other Proceedings, of The Convention of the Commonwealth of MA to Which the Federal Constitution is Prefixed, I was thrilled. It's an exceptionally scarce and important book of its own right. This book provides the official record of the debates that occurred in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prior to the founding of our country with the later adoption of The Constitution. It was during these debates that the first amendments were proposed. 

Then I noted Beckley's signature on the title page and began to research the man. John Beckley, a personal friend of Thomas Jefferson, was appointed to become the first librarian, establishing the Library of Congress among his many other roles in our young nation's history. That is a stunning ownership history for a book related to the establishment of our nation from the personal collection of the man who started our nation's collection of knowledge!

Known signature of Levi Lincoln, Sr.


I've learned as a collector and a researcher, though, that you have to pay careful attention to the smallest details and to piece together as much of the story as you can from the details. You never know where it may lead. And you have to understand with books just how precious they were. A gifted book would often be noted 'from' and 'to'. It was a significant contribution to a man's estate to give him a book. And so it was that another significant owner of this book was identified. On a page that was sadly torn, I found the gift inscription which today only retains the words, "L. Lincoln to.. John..." I knew the John was obviously John James Beckley, but I wondered, who could L. Lincoln be. Such a fragment of a name that it seemed like it might be impossible to identify this person. With a bit of brute force research, I realized it must have been Levi Lincoln who was the Attorney General of Thomas Jefferson. And, luckily for me, the inscription is a dead match to that of the known signature of Levi Lincoln. Consider for a moment this book on Lincoln's office shelf as Jefferson strode in to discuss the legal concerns of the day. Some of our nation's most important founders have almost surely shared the room with this small volume. It's an astonishing find. Scarce, historic, and important book capturing the conversations at the founding of the United States of America bound in leather by Adams and Norse, Boston, 1788.

The book was later owned by early settler, Henry S. Baird of Green Bay. Then the book has a stamp from Casper, Krueger, Dory, & Co. of Milwaukee. Finally, in 1939, F H Taylor acquired the book in Milwaukee. Most recently, the book was auctioned in Ohio and purchased by www.nateivey.com



This exceedingly scarce book (Jefferson's copy is in the Library of Congress for example) is in fair shape with wear. One of many rare books offered for sale at www.nateivey.com.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Power of Silver Hallmarks

Hallmarks can be extremely powerful and important in silver.  They tell the story of many pieces of silver that is absent on most other kinds of antiques.  For the furniture enthusiast, there are sometimes paper labels or pencil mark signatures, but these are rare.  For silver, the marks are often there, and when they are, you need to pay heed.  The absence of a hallmark can also be significant but we'll get into that later.  In this little article, I want to describe the non-US hallmarks that have been the most important to me in my business dealings.  The photos are pieces I have bought and/or sold some of which are still available at Crescent City Connection in my silver section .  I make a description of some of these marks and use many thematically similar pieces to give those descriptions.  I don't claim these are the best of the best pieces, just items I've been able to trade. For me, at my current stage of collecting, nothing could be w...
3 comments
Read more

Fakes in the Silver and Gold Trade - A Few Examples

I wanted to write today about something that happens from time to time to dealers-- even with pretty sharp eyes.  Fakes.  The fact is that almost all dealers have bought fakes.  You won't see that many articles, because it's embarrassing and dealers think telling people about screw ups might hurt the reputation.  The fact is, publishing these images may help others who are about to get burned or who will remember these examples in the future.  Have a good image of a fake?  Send it along and I will add it to this post. Fake 1736 Spanish 8 Escudo Sometimes you get burned by a counterfeit-- or other times just valueless items that lend an appearance of being a good score.  Sometimes these fakes are intentionally fake and sometimes they are not.  But either way, if you have integrity you should never pass them along even as "replicas" and it would be better if you spotted them before you plunked down your cash and didn't buy them at all.  N...
Post a Comment
Read more

Should I Use the College of Arms for Identifying a Coat of Arms or Crest?

The answer to whether you should hire The College of Arms in my opinion is a resounding  NO . The services they provided me were less than worthless, and of very questionable integrity. I would be loathe to level words against this organization like fraudulent or criminal, but taking money and providing nothing in return in every other business dealing I've ever been engaged in would be considered unacceptable and dishonorable. Yet, this is precisely what they may ask you to accept. But, so you fully understand how valueless is the service they provide, I have chronicled it here so hopefully if you choose to wire them money, you'll understand the very real risk that they will keep your money and do nothing for you except provide lip service. Here's some background. The College of Arms in London , "...maintains registers of arms, pedigrees, genealogies, Royal Licences, changes of name, and flags." The heralds are appointed by the Queen of England. This group...
Post a Comment
Read more