Autograph Book from NY Constitutional Convention

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Day 1- Fine Art, Rare Books, Silver & Pottery...

By Sarasota Estate Auction

Aug 5, 2023

Set Reminder 2023-08-05 11:00:00 2023-08-05 11:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Day 1- Fine Art, Rare Books, Silver & Pottery https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/sarasota-estate/day-1--fine-art-rare-books-silver-pottery-13292
Featuring a Lifetime Collection of Early American Pottery, a Fantastic Georg Jensen Sterling Tea Set - 23 OZT, Important Books and Ephemera, and Exquisite Estate Jewelry. Also including art from artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Camille Pissarro, Karel Appel, Victor Vasarely, and many more. Sarasota Estate Auction sarasotaestateauction@gmail.com

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• Lot Description
  Autograph Book from NY Constitutional Convention 1846 This is an autograph book from the New York Constitutional Convention of 1846. The convention was gathered to revise the State’s constitution and the autograph book has the original signatures of the Governor of New York, the Lieutenant Governor, the officers and all the delegates of the convention, as well as the reporters from the various newspapers who covered the convention. The book has over 135 signatures, and is an absolute rarity. The second free endpaper is inscribed “In Convention to revise the Constitution, Sept 21st 1846”, and the autograph book comes with a modern book titled “Manual For The Use Of The Convention To Revise The Constitution Of The State Of New York, Convened At Albany, June 1, 1846”, and this book is a great supplement to the autograph book - it has all the details you’d ever want to know about the convention, to wit: The first New York Constitution was adopted by the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York on April 20, 1777. A second constitution was adopted in 1821, a third - this one - in 1846, a fourth in 1894 and a fifth in 1938. Since 1938, the constitution has been amended several times, and the Constitution of 1846 was important because it abolished all remnants of feudal land ownership, extended constitutional protections to local governments, and reorganized the judiciary. There are several noteworthy signatures in the autograph books well: that of Silas Wright, the governor of New York at the time, as well as that of Addison Gardiner, the Lieutenant governor of the the state; the signature of Samuel Tilden, who went on to become governor of New York in 1874; and James Tallmadge, who was instrumental in the passage of the notorious Missouri Compromise of 1820, which set the stage for the Civil War. These are not facsimile signatures, but the actual ones from the dignitaries and delegates who attended the convention. It is hard to find them anywhere, and we don’t know if the autograph book was the sign-in book used at the convention or a book passed around by someone for posterity or just to collect signatures of the people who attended the convention, but it’s a rare and difficult archive to find. The autograph book measures 8 5/8 x 7 3/4 in. wide, with detached covers, but they serve their purpose - they protect the signatures. The book has beige endpapers, 80 pages of autographs (with the pages alternating between a blank page and an autograph), ten more blank pages followed by the signature of Robert Owen and a clipped signature added in which reads “B. F. Cornell Esq, NY State Convention Albany NY … Robert Owen”, three more clipped signatures (“Rebecca P. Eathforth” and “Benjamin Cornell” - these were not cut out of the autograph book, but were signed on papers added to the book), 44 more blank pages to round out the book, the pages are clean, with no browning or foxing, and all the edges are gilt. The modern manual book measures 9 x 6 in. wide and gives the whole background for the convention. It was produced by Alpha Editions in 2021, is 371 pages long, and was printed in the same format used when it was originally published in the 1840’s, with any marks and annotations intentionally left to preserve the nature of the 1846 Convention. It also has a list of all the officers at the convention, an alphabetical list of the delegates, and a list of all the reporters who covered the convention to provide information to the citizens of New York. A must-have for history buffs of the Constitution of the state of New York. #53 #1715
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