United States Constitution | The first periodical printing

United States Constitution

The American Museum, Or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces … Volume II. Philadelphia: Printed by Mathew Carey, 1787

8vo (208 x 130 mm). Containing the 6 numbers of Volume 2, title-pages; scattered foxing but generally fresh and bright. In calf antique, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second with morocco label lettered in gilt, others with repeat decoration in gilt, blue morocco label at foot dated in gilt, boards ruled in gilt motif, marbled endpapers; a little rubbing to upper joint and board edges, boards very slightly bowed.

First edition of Mathew Carey's The American Museum for 1787, including the first magazine printing of the Constitution. Carey's influential journal "shares with The Columbian Magazine the honor of being the first successful American magazine" (Mott 100). Contributors included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Noah Webster, Timothy Dwight IV, Philip Freneau, Francis Hopkinson, David Humphreys, Benjamin Rush, and John Trumbell. The September 1787 issue contains the first periodical printing of the United States Constitution, preceding the printing in The Columbian Magazine by two days.

The present volume also includes six numbers of The Federalist, and various reports on the Debates.

REFERENCE

Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines, 1741–1850 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930), pp. 100–103