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"Let it only be added, that, settled in an extensive country, bordering upon the ocean, and open to a free intercourse with all the commercial world- A country comprehending several climates and a rich variety of soils, watered and fertilized by a multitude of springs and streams, and by many grand rivers... -the citizens have great opportunities and advantages for making useful experiments and improvements, whereby the interest and happiness of the rising empire may be essentially advanced. At the same time, enjoying, under a mild but steady government, that freedom which excites and rewards industry, and gives relish to life- That freedom which is propitious to the diffusion of knowledge, which expands the mind, and engages it to noble and generous pursuits, -they have a stimulus to enterprise, which the inhabitants of few other countries can feel." |
| Memoirs of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Volume I, parts I-III. Boston:
Adams and Nourse, 1785. Quarto, original publisher's drab boards and
paper spine. $1450.
First edition of the first volume of the Memoirs one of the United States's most important and influential intellectual societies. "The Academy was founded during the American Revolution by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other leaders who contributed prominently to the establishment of the new nation, its government, and its Constitution. Its purpose was to provide a forum for a select group of scholars, members of the learned professions, and government and business leaders to work together on behalf of the democratic interests of the republic. In the words of the Academy's charter, enacted in 1780, the 'end and design of the institution is... to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.'" (American Academy of the Arts and Sciences website: amacad.org). The first volume of the Academy's Memoirs, published in 1785, contains scholarly articles on an astonishing breadth of subjects including physics, mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, chemistry, mechanics, agriculture, and industry. In addition to the founders, the membership list includes some of the most renowned men of the day including Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Warren, Joseph Priestley, and many others. The American Academy is still active today, serving as a highly respected international society of scholars. Complete with six folding plates. Chips to spine ends, text generally clean with only scattered foxing and occasional browning; significant browning and offsetting to plates (as often). Evans 18900. Sabin 1034. Rare in original boards. |