1700\'s Handwritten Journal Alexander Graydon James Biddle Bristol PA Drawings
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1700\'s Handwritten Journal Alexander Graydon James Biddle Bristol PA Drawings :
$325.00
I bought this book in hopes to keep it but have a chance to purchase a diary archive and am selling off a few of my rare pieces. The incredible book originally belonged to Alexander Graydon (1752-1818). Graydon was a Captain in the Revolutionary Army, a delegate to the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, prothonotary, a lawyer, and author.
Although his name is not in this book there are several things that point to his ownership. Although I can’t find a date in this book I was told it dates from 1780-1800. There are about 104 handwritten pages and that’s just the first ¼ of the book. The rest of the pages are blank. It’s a large book too measuring about 6 ¼” x 8” and is 2” thick. Not only that, there are 4 pages in the back with some incredible drawings; which I’ll get to in a minute. Before I describe the book, I want to give you a bit of historical background on Graydon that I found on the Pennsylvania University archives web site….
“Alexander Graydon was born in 1752 in Bristol, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish immigrant Alexander Graydon and his second wife, Rachel Marks. When the elder Alexander Graydon, a Philadelphia merchant and lawyer, died in 1761, his wife Rachel moved with her children to Philadelphia where she took in boarders to supplement her meager income. Young Alexander attended the Academy of Philadelphia from 1760 until September of 1766 sponsored by Joseph Marks. Graydon was fourteen years of age when he left the Academy and College of Philadelphia to read law with his uncle in Philadelphia and then with another lawyer in York, Pennsylvania. When he first published his memoirs in 1811, Graydon included his memories of his mother\'s boarders and of his years at the Academy and College. At age twenty-three, Graydon was commissioned as a captain by the Continental Congress in January 1776. After carrying out a mission to General Philip Schuyler at Lake George in May of that year, Graydon resumed his command of the company of men he had recruited and trained. He led this company in the retreat from Long Island and in the Battle of Harlem Heights, where he was taken prisoner by the British in September. After his release, he resumed his legal studies, this time in Reading rather than in Philadelphia. As a Federalist and early supporter of the Constitution, Graydon served as a delegate to the 1790 Pennsylvania state convention. He was elected as a prothonotary of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in 1785, an office he held until 1799. During this period he lived in Harrisburg. In 1799 Graydon moved to a small farm near the state capital, living there until 1816 when he moved back to Philadelphia. He was married twice, to a Miss Wood of Berks County and then Theodosia Pettit of Philadelphia; he had no children. Graydon\'s 1811 memoir, a chronicle of both his life and the time in which he lived, was republished in 1822, 1828 and 1846.”
The person I bought this from did some fabulous extensive research on the journal and the 1st thing that points to this being Alexander Graydon’s book is on the second page. The 1st two pages have a beautiful religious piece written on them and under that in a different handwriting it says,
“The foregoing, [written by] (those words are crossed out) in the hand writing of my mother was a speech taught me by Mr. Kinnersley, teacher of English in the Academy of Philadelphia and which when I was seven or eight years of age, from the partiality of my parents I was supposed to write very well. From whence it is taken, I know not. A.G.”
The first 13 pages are various prayers and religious writings. They are poems for sickness, sleep, death and graveside. Then starting on the 14th page and written in a different hand and for the next 64 pages there are writings with the title “Translation of Virgil’s Onead Book.” And again, in the same hand that I quoted from just above this, it says……
“This translation was an essay of my father’s and seems intended as an imitation of Milton. It seems, in general rather stiff and prosaic and deficient in the inversions which poetry or at least blank verse requires to distinguish it from prose. Perhaps it is a just opinion of Johnson, that the genius of our language is not suited to blank verse. At any rate, though Milton, young Thompson and others have given us fine poems without ryme, yet their music is hardly equal to that of Dryden and Pope. The strains of Rowe are indeed truly harmonious, but perhaps better adapted to dramatic than epic poetry.”
Could this journal have been written by his mother and father? The next 10 pages are more prayers, hymns and poems. Then 7 more pages containing religious writings from the bible but it is written in the form of an essay or speech, and this one is yet in a different hand. So there are three different handwritings represented in this journal. Then after these 104 handwritten pages you’ll find the blank pages and finally at the end are the four drawings.
There are four pages of bird drawings and the 8 birds are drawn from “A History of British Birds”, 1797 Volume I and “Land Birds” by Thomas Bewisk.
Finally a partial handwritten note or receipt signed by Alexander Graydon also came with this journal. It is for payment to Mr. John Patton. Again it is only a partial piece and is separated along center fold line. It is also signed by James offerdle esq. In Alexander Graydon’s memoirs he talks about James offerdle. I found offerdle on several web sites and one of them said this about him….
“James offerdle (1731-1797) was the first child of William and Mary offerdle. On June 30, 1753, James offerdle married Frances Marks and together they had five children. He received an education in Law from John Ross of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1765. He practiced in Berks, Lancaster, and Northampton counties of Pennsylvania before returning to Philadelphia to become Deputy Prothonotary, and later Deputy Judge of Admiralty under King George III. In December 1776, he resumed his legal practice in Reading, Pennsylvania, but returned to Philadelphia in 1788 to become Prothonotary of the Philadelphia courts. In 1791 James offerdle was made President Judge of the First Judicial District, a position which he held until his death in 1797.”
There is more provenance as to where this journal came from (a long time antiquarian book dealer) and I will include that information with the purchase. As far as the condition of this journal, it does need some archival repair. Both covers have fallen off but they are accounted for. The first 4 pages are also loose from the journal but also accounted for. There is foxing but considering the age of this book, it’s no wonder. Please email me with any questions.
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1700\'s Handwritten Journal Alexander Graydon James Biddle Bristol PA Drawings :
$325.00