Beschreibung:

CONSTITUTIONS] The Constitution of Vermont, as established by Convention in the Year 1778, and revised by Convention in June 1786 . Windsor: Hough and Spooner, 1786. First edition, an association copy, the title page indistinctly inscribed "... Secretary Paine to/humble servant/James Wint[hrop?]." Modern cloth with a red lettering label. 7 3/8 x 4 3/8 inches (18.5 x 11 cm); 30 pp. (1), printed on blue paper. The title page with stamps and trimmed with loss of inscription and signature, dampstain to lower and gutter margin affecting text throughout. This is the ratified Constitution of Vermont, the shortest of all state constitutions, which was drafted in 1777 and revised in 1785. "Secretary Paine" mentioned in the inscription is most certainly Elijah Paine, the secretary of Vermont's Constitutional Convention, who had been educated at Harvard and served in the Continental Army. James Winthrop, librarian at Harvard from 1772 until 1787, toured Lake Champlain in Vermont in August of 1786, and perhaps received this freshly printed volume then. The work is rare, with ESTC reporting only two institutional copies in North America; ABPC reports no copies at auction. Sabin 99010; Evans, 20096. C The New York City Bar Association