The Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, Military Secretary of Washington, at Cambridge; Adjutant-General of the Continental Army; Member of the Congress of the United States; and President of the Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania, Vol. I [and] Vol. II

Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1847. Hardcover. Good. With author's autograph letter signed and dated 1854 tipped in. Two volumes. Boards in publisher's black cloth, gilt lettering on spines; ornate decorative blind-stamping on spines and front covers. Top of each spine is chipped; fore-corners exposed. Previous owner's blind-stamp on title pages and address label on front pastedowns. Newsprint portrait of author affixed to ffep of Vol. I. Frontispiece portrait of Joseph Reed with tissue guard in Vol. I. 8vo. pp. xxiii, [2], 26-437, plus [2] ads; [9], x-xv, [2],18-507. [Howes, R137] Biography of Joseph Reed (1741-1785), Founding Father of the United States, aide-de-camp to George Washington, member of the Continental Congress, and third President of Pennsylvania, written by his grandson, William Bradford Reed (1806-1876). An interesting if slightly worn copy of this scarce biography of a Founding Father, with the author's 1854 handwritten letter which touches on the death of his brother, Henry Hope Reed (1808-1854), and the heartfelt response from the University of Pennsylvania, where both brothers had been teaching. Henry had been on the faculty since 1831. He died at sea on September 27, 1854, when the SS Arctic sank off of the coast of Newfoundland on its return voyage from England. The letter reads: ''Philadelphia. November 14, 1854. / Gentlemen, Mrs. Henry Reed desires me to acknowledge the receipt of the Resolutions adopted by the graduates and students of the Department of Arts in the University of Pennsylvania. She has received them with profound emotion, and in her behalf (at the same time making my own personal acknowledgment) I thank you most sincerely for the honor you offer to the memory of the dead. We know how closely in affection my brother was bound to his students, and we had a [illegible] pleasure in receiving these expression of your regard for him. / I am, [illegible] / William B. Reed / Messrs Goodman and Norris[?]''. Interestingly, the Henry Reed Prize was established at UPenn shortly after his death and was initially awarded for the best English essay by a member of the graduating class. It is still being awarded today. The author, Joseph Reed's grandson William Bradford Reed, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1822 and served as Pennsylvania Attorney General 1838-9, as District Attorney of Philadelphia 1851-56, and as U.S. Minister to China 1857-8. He was also a Professor of American History (non-faculty) at the University of Pennsylvania in 1850 and during the 1854-1855 session.