[New York Book Trade] Cicero’s Select Orations, translated into English; with the original Latin, from the best editions, in the opposite page; and notes, historical, critical, and explanatory. Designed for the use of schools, as well as private gentlemen.
First fruit from America’s second book trade organization…
The first publication issued under the collective imprint of the New York Association of Booksellers, a short-lived cooperative formed about 1802 by ten New York publishing and bookselling firms. Members included Thomas & James Swords, George F. Hopkins, Isaac Collins & Son, Evert Duyckinck, William Falconer, and others located chiefly on Pearl Street and Water Street. The New York Association of Booksellers was the second organized booksellers’ association in the United States; the first, the American Company of Booksellers, was a brief experiment (Growell, pp. v–vi).
Dedicated to Episcopal bishop and Columbia College president Benjamin Moore, this work presents itself as “the first American Edition of Duncan’s Cicero worthy of the Acceptance of the Public.” A florid but informative two-page dedication is signed in type at its close by Malcolm Campbell, the editor and “teacher of languages.”
The work marked the New York association’s first coordinated effort to standardize and domesticate the schoolbook trade. The association, so their pitch went, sought to lessen dependence on costly imported schoolbooks and to provide accurate American editions for schools, academies, and colleges. “While many of our Fellow Citizens are projecting the Good of their County in Matters of greater Importance, it is hoped that this Attempt will not be regarded as of no moment. In this small Way thousands of Dollars may be annually saved to our country.”
Description: [New York Book Trade] Cicero’s Select Orations, translated into English; with the original Latin, from the best editions, in the opposite page; and notes, historical, critical, and explanatory. Designed for the use of schools, as well as private gentlemen.
New-York: Printed by George F. Hopkins, at Washington’s Head, for T. & J. Swords, G. F. Hopkins, P. A. Mesier, J. Oram, S. Stephens, T. S. Arden, W. Falconer, E. Duyckinck, I. Collins & Son, and T. & J. Jansen & Co., 1802. Octavo, [2], vi, 671, [1] p. First American edition. Period binding with the front board detached and its leather covering entirely lost; much of the lower cover nearly detached, with further leather loss. Traces of an unusual gilt-stamped red morocco spine label remain. Front free endpaper and preliminary blanks before the title-page lacking. Contemporary ink ownership of John Hall at the top of the title-page.
[3736030]Not in Sabin. Imprints 2039. Under this imprint, OCLC shows holdings at Tufts, Montana State, Duke, Yale, Harvard, Northwestern, and Garrett Evangelical, with accession number 4710002 representing an additional admixture of physical copies and microfilm records.
Price: $150.00