Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788
Updated September 24, 2026
| Lot number | 201 |
| Estimate | 1,500.00 - 2,500.00 USD |
| Auction | Fall Rare Books, Manuscripts, Historical Prints, & Ephemera |
| Date | October 8, 2026 at 10:30 AM EDT |
| Auction house | Quinn's Auction Galleries |
| Location | Falls Church, Virginia |
[U.S. CONSTITUTION; MASSACHUSETTS.] Debates, Resolutions and other Proceedings, of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Convened at Boston, on the 9th of January, 1788, and Continued until the 7th of February following, for the Purpose of Assenting to and Ratifying the Constitution Recommended by the Grand Federal Convention. Boston: Adams and Nourse, Benjamin Russell and Edmund Freeman, 1788. 8vo (109 x 179 mm). 219 pp. Contemporary calf re-backed. Provenance: "Secretary's Office" (ink annotation inside covers, to title, and to several leaves throughout); Burnham (ink annotations in text); James M. Robbins (ownership inscription dated 1844); Archibald M. Howe (ownership inscription dated 1886). First edition of the debates of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, with intriguing contemporary provenance. On the endpapers, flyleaf, title, and at the head of several leaves throughout is a contemporary ink annotation "Secretary's Office", the one on the flyleaf dated 1789. Several other ink annotations appear throughout, providing additional historical context to the convention, and seem to date from the early part of the 19th century. On the front free-endpaper appears the annotation "bought of Burnham Oct 12th 1844 by James M. Robbins," and facing, on the front pastedown endpaper, is the annotation "Archbald M. Howe June 16, 1886 from Est[ate] of J.M. Robbins." Robbins was an officer of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Howe was an historian and was named the Vice-Presidential candidate for the "National Party" in 1900. Condition Leaves toned, scattered foxing, edgetear to p 45, some scars to boards, rebacked.
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