LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 December Signature Texana Auction #661  / 

56312

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Reps.

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:2,600.00 USD Estimated At:4,500.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Appendix to the Journals of the House of Reps.
<B><I>Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives: Fifth Congress.</B></I></B></I> [Austin]. Printed at the Gazette Office. [1841] 448 pp., three tables (two folding). Octavo. First edition. The first half of the Appendix contains annual reports to President Lamar made by the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War and Navy, the Attorney General, the Post-Master General, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The latter half offers reports from associated committees. <BR><BR>Only a few copies of this book have ever been located, but it is indispensable to the study of Texas history. Research has failed to locate any other printing of many of the House Committee reports included here, save for the occasional partial reprint in newspapers of the time. The same can be said of the reports made to President Lamar in October, 1840, by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the Post-Master General. <BR><BR>The extreme rarity of this volume is made clear by information enclosed within its pages. The House Journal for November 6, 1840 (p. 37), records a vote requiring all committees to prepare abstracts of their reports for the press. A few pages later (p. 41), we learn that the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads has chosen to decline publication of the report of the Post-Master General. On the same day, the Committee on the Judiciary stated that it was unnecessary to publish <I>any</B></I> portion of the Attorney General's report. Both committees pointed to the great expense that would be incurred by preparing and printing the abstracts for the press. On page 405, we find complaints made by the Committee on Finance that the Treasury Department's reports are "too voluminous for publication. In the case of the annual reports made by the Secretary of War and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, only the copies at the Grand Lodge at Waco are known, and only the Grand Lodge and the Texas State Library copies of the report of the Secretary of Navy have thus far been located. Even the report of the Secretary of State is uncommon, with only three copies known to exist, this being one of them. <BR><BR>The House Journal of the Fifth Congress is one of the two Cruger & Wing imprints entered under the year 1841; this Appendix with its imprint "<I>Printed at the Gazette Office</B></I>" is one of the many Samuel Whiting imprints of that year. The printer's bill was for 500 copies (Ms., Archives, Texas State Library). Enclosed in a blue half-calf case with raised bands and gilt lettering at the spine. Significant age toning throughout, but otherwise in fine condition. <I>From the collection of Darrel Brown.</B></I><BR><BR><B>Reference: </B></I>Streeter 456. Sabin 94965, note.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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