JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS, HELD AT PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER 5, 1774

Philadelphia: Printed by William and Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee House, 1774.. [4],132pp. Half title. Bound to style in three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt extra with raised bands, gilt leather label. Half title lightly soiled, contemporary ownership inscription ("Thos. Sinclair"). Light scattered foxing and soiling to text; p.15 torn at edge, not affecting text. Very good. The Journals of the first Continental Congress, describing its meetings from Sept. 5, 1774 to Oct. 26, 1774, and one of the most basic documents of the American Revolution. This is the first issue of 132 pages, preceded in publication sequence only by a very rare misdated state of the titlepage.

Committees of Correspondence resolved to hold a Continental Congress in June of 1774, and delegates from twelve colonies (none from Georgia) gathered in Philadelphia in autumn. It included many of the most distinguished men in America: Samuel and John Adams, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Edmund Pendleton, and Henry Middleton, among others. The Congress succeeded in taking numerous important steps. On Oct. 14 they adopted a Declaration of Rights, and agreed to an Association governing imports and exports and boycotting British goods. They also drafted an Address to the People of Great Britain and another Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec. They agreed to reassemble on May 10, 1775 for what was to be the fateful Congress that broke with England.

The titlepage bears the famous seal of the Congress, showing twelve hands representing the twelve participating colonies supporting a column topped with a Liberty Cap and resting on the Magna Charta. EVANS 13737. HOWES J263, "b." ESTC W20577. HILDEBURN 3036. REESE, REVOLUTIONARY HUNDRED 20.