[SOUTH CAROLINA LAWS]

[Collection of Early South Carolina State Laws for the Years 1783 - 1816]

Charleston or Columbia: 1783-1816. Forty-nine individually-printed works (per Gould & Morgan and Shaw & Shoemaker) in twenty-nine volumes. Small folio or octavo. Modern buckram, gilt leather labels. Ink library stamps on titlepages, some foxing and staining, contemporary ownership inscriptions and occasional manuscript notes, a handful of leaves lacking or in facsimile.

An excellent collection of rare South Carolina session laws beginning in the early Federal period, running through the War of 1812, ending in 1815.

The imprints date from 1783, 1785-87, 1795-1801, and 1803-16. The acts cover the issues commensurate with a fledgling state in the new American nation: taxation, militia, infrastructure, judicial processes, slavery, law enforcement, schools, and much more. Of particular note here is the 1783 act to incorporate Charlestown under its new name of Charleston after the British evacuation of the city in December 1782. Another noteworthy act involves preserving certain lands for the "Use and Occupation of the Cherokee Indians" (1786). The 1801 Acts includes a 29pp. contemporary manuscript index. Also includes a Message from the Governor (1785) and Report of Ways & Means (1785) in addition to the Acts. Four of the imprints include the Acts section only, and do not include the Resolutions as called-for by Gould & Morgan, with one slightly imperfect duplicate of the first work that includes a second copy of the 1783 act incorporating Charleston. A rare assemblage of early South Carolina law, with OCLC usually recording a single copy, or very few examples, of each imprint. Any Charleston imprints from the Evans period are rare, and several examples are present here. It is a collection that would be practically impossible to put together on an individual basis. More details on the contents of the imprints are available by request. The Gould & Morgan citations are in bound order.

Evans 18190, 19250, 44795, 19252, 19253, 19251, 19998, 20715, 31219, 32856, 36336, 38533; Gould & Morgan 680, 640, 657, 659, 676, 677, 678, 675, 674, 679, 673, 672, 681, 766, 756, 765, 754, 757, 758, 771, 767, 747, 748, 774, 807, 853, 1182, 1233, 1309, 1354; Shaw & Shoemaker 1343, 5082, 7294, 7293, 9401, 11399, 13619a, 16221, 18659, 16220, 21388, 23962, 26783, 26782, 29829, 29830, 32821, 35982, 38982.

Item #29401

Price: $9,500.00