Beschreibung:

NEW YORK CITY]. FRANKS, David. The New-York Directory, Containing, A Valuable and well Calculated Almanack; -- Tables of the different Coins, suitable for any State, and digested in such order, as to render an Exchange between any of the United States plain and easy... New York: Shepard Kollock, 1786. 12 o (160 x 102 mm). (Lacking final blank, lower half of title renewed, with author's name and imprint in facsimile, A2 with gutter margin renewed and a few marginal repairs, last nine leaves with lower corners renewed, with a few letters supplied in pen facsimile.) Modern black cloth; brown morocco pull-off case. FIRST EDITION. THE FIRST NEW YORK CITY DIRECTORY AND THE RAREST AMERICAN DIRECTORY. New York was preceded only by Philadelphia in issuing a directory, with two competing ones having been issued in 1785. Here, names are arranged by letter but not alphabetically (pp.20-81). Also included is an almanac, table of exchange, list of political office holders, and mail schedules. Franks was an accountant from Ireland, and advertises his services on the last page. EXCEEDINGLY RARE: this work was conspicuously absent from the major New York collections of De Puy and Goelet, and this is one of two copies traced on the market since 1945. The RLG Union Catalog locates three copies: Princeton, Museum of the City of New York and the Library Company (acquired from Michael Zinman, purchased at Sotheby's, 13 May 1987, lot 10, damaged in a fire and with each leaf separately encapsulated and with 12 leaves remargined). Spear locates 8 copies, but evidently without examining the originals, and some of those locations are for one of the many reprint editions. Church 1217; Evans 19655; Howes F-388 ("dd"); Sabin 54456; Spear p. 231.