Adams, John (1735-1826) A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, ex libris Yales Linonian Library

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Adams, John (1735-1826) A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, ex libris Yale's Linonian Library. New York: Re-printed, and sold by H. Gaine, at the Bible, in Hanover-Square, 1787. Octavo, one of several editions published in London, Philadelphia, and New York in the same year, with the bookplate of the Linonian Library of Yale College, engraved by Doolittle and dated 1802 pasted inside the front board, with several inscriptions on bookplate, title, and elsewhere; bound in full contemporary calf with original red label on spine, worn, front board detached, later endleaves added at back, spotting, wear and tear to contents from heavy contemporary use, housed in a custom clamshell box, 6 3/4 x 4 in.
"In the immediate foreground a youth, with some uncertainty in his air, submits to be led by the hand of Minerva, who turns to cheer him, and points to the temple of Fame crowning the summit of the hill, up whose tortuous sides the path they are pursuing leads; Father Time, with discouraged mien, head resting on his hand, sits upon the globe amid the ruin of architectural fragments, grasping his faithful scythe in the right hand; the temple of Fame is surmounted by an angel, who is blowing mightily on the trumpet of the goddess who presides over the shrine; the word Immortalitas is inscribed across the entablature; just over the youth and Minerva, in a cloudy swirl, three cherubs hold aloft a sheepskin, on which is seen LINONIA Sept. 12. 1753. Quiescit in perfecto. Above all this a heart-shaped shield is divided into five parts, which hold a pelican in her piety, a book-case, a dove on the olive branch, the phœnix rising from the fire, and a puppy dog, whose meaning is uncertain. Scrolls about the shield bear the motto, Amicitia concordia soli noscimus. A cherub's face peers over the shield. Signed, Doolittle Sc. 1802." (Quoted from Charles Dexter Allen's American Book-Plates, New York: Macmillan, 1894, number 968.)
Estimate $1,500-2,000


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