A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America, Its Connection with Agriculture and Manufactures: and an Account of the Public Debt, Revenues, and Expenditures of the United States. With a Brief Review of the Trade, Agriculture, and Manufactures of the Colonies, Previous to their Independence. Accompanied with Tables, Illustrative of the Principles and Objects of the Work.
New York: James Eastburn & Co., 1817. Second Edition, with Additions and Corrections. Official U.S. Senate copy, with “Senate U.S. Committee Room, No. 1” stamped in gilt on both boards and spine. Octavo, xii, 445, vii, [1] pages, bound in period full tree calf. A notable official U.S. Senate copy of Timothy Pitkin’s A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America, Second Edition, with Additions and Corrections (New York: James Eastburn & Co., 1817), an important early statistical and economic survey of the young United States. Pitkin examines American commerce, agriculture, manufactures, public debt, revenues, expenditures, and the economic development of the former colonies, supporting his discussion with extensive statistical tables and contemporary data. Of exceptional interest is the provenance of this copy: “Senate U.S. Committee Room, No. 1” is stamped in gilt on both boards and spine, identifying the volume as an official working copy of the United States Senate. The association is particularly significant in light of an Act of Congress approved April 20, 1818, authorizing the purchase of 250 copies of Pitkin’s work “for the use and disposal of Congress,” followed in 1819 by a resolution directing that the copies be deposited in the Library of Congress for the use of members. While it cannot presently be established that this volume was one of those 250 copies, its 1817 publication date and unmistakable Senate binding make it a remarkable surviving artifact of the early federal government’s institutional library and of the study of American commerce and political economy during the nation’s formative decades. Hinges cracked, with the boards held by the cords, some discoloration and rubbing to the leather; spine label lacking, chip to the foot of the spine, scattered discoloration and foxing, corners bumped, else in good + condition. Item #529
Price: $1,500.00