Oration Delivered at the State-House, in Philadelphia,
Item #81357
[ADAMS, Samuel]. An Oration Delivered at the State-House, in Philadelphia, to a very Numerous Audience; on Thursday the 1st of August, 1776.... Philadelphia Printed; London, Re-printed: E. Johnson, 1776. 1st and only ed. [2], 42pp. Period style quarter leather and marbled boards, gilt-title on spine. Minor foxing, title page toned, boards rubbed, else very good. American Controversy 76-106a. Howes A72. Sabin 344. Scarce, with only five copies to ever come to auction, last to appear in 1970. A curious, and spurious, Revolutionary pamphlet, allegedly printing an oration by Samuel Adams, which was not written by him, and which was never published in Philadelphia. This text was issued in the wake of the American Declaration of Independence and, while the rhetoric certainly sounds like Adams, it cannot be confirmed. Howes calls it "London forgery designed to show that the colonies were bent on independence." "It extols the merits of the newly independent colonies, but overtones suggest that it was actually written in England"- Adams. The pamphlet's importance derives from the eloquent summary of the colonies deterrence from British rule based on the overbearing weight of the crown, which they spearheaded with their demand for independence. It is speculated that this printing was suppressed to not gain popularity in England, and thus a Dublin edition followed the same year to promote support. Adams writes that excerpts of this pamphlet first appeared in an October London Chronicle from 1776.
Price: $6,500.00