OBSERVATIONS SUR LE GOUVERNEMENT ET LES LOIX DES ÉTATS-UNIS D'AMERIQU

Amsterda: Chez J.F. Rosart, 1784. [2],213pp. [bound with:] [Jay, John]: EXTRAIT DU JOURNAL DE LECTURE, No. XXXVII. LETTRE CIRCULAIRE DU CONGRÈS DES ÉTATS UNIS D'AMÉRIQUE A SES CONSTITUANTS. [Paris. 1779?] [2],26pp. [with:] [French Drama]: LA PAIX DE 1782 OU LE BOWL DE PUNCH DE MASTER OLIVER DREAMER. London. 1782. 47pp. First two titles 12mo., third title octavo. Contemporary calf, gilt, spine gilt with floral design, leather label. Binding rubbed and worn, chipped at head of spine. Internally fine. These three titles, printed in French but produced throughout Europe, all touch on the American Revolution and its aftermath. Mably's work consists of four letters written to John Adams, then the American Minister to Holland, on the government, laws, and political divisions in the United States. One of the letters deals specifically with Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Georgia. The second item is a circular letter from the Congress of the United States of America to their constituents on the subject of raising funds for the public debt, and is signed in print by John Jay, September 13, 1779. Herein Jay outlines the fiscal state of the infant nation, in particular light of the growing war debt. In the United States the letter was ordered to be printed and distributed to the numerous parishes throughout the nation, to be read by the several ministers at the close of religious services. Jay implores the populace to maintain its resolve, and to be wary of insidious reports that the new government is failing. This French printing, likely produced to reassure the French shortly after they entered the Revolution on the American side, is extremely rare. OCLC locates only one copy, at the University of Pennsylvania. That copy, however, is printed in an octavo format, as opposed to the duodecimo format as in the present copy. The third title consists of a farcical French drama touching on the American Revolution. Mably: HOWES M5, "aa." SABIN 42923. Jay: SABIN 15515 (Philadelphia ed). OCLC 17381334. Drama: SABIN 58262