LLOYD, Thomas (1756-1827, stenographer)

The Congressional Register; or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the First House of Representatives of the United States of America. Volumes I and II. Issues 1-20.

New York: Printed for the Editor by Harrisson and Purdy; Hodge, Allen, and Campbell, 1789-90. 2 volumes. 8vo. (8 x 4 3/4 inches). First edition. Vol. I, Issues 1-11: [No title] 3-614 [no 2 pp. Advertisement]. 614 pp. Second edition. Vol. II, Issues 12-20: 1-449. 449 pp.

Vol. I is unbound, each issue stab-stitched together. Vol. II is bound in contemporary calf with spine in six ruled gilt compartments, red morocco lettering-piece in second compartment reads [Debates | Congress | 1789], gilt numeral [2] in fourth compartment. Within cloth chemise and two modern morocco-backed clamshell boxes

The first two volumes of the exceptionally rare Congressional Register, the only comprehensive, authentic record of the first session of the US House of Representatives by an eyewitness reporter. Lloyd's text includes debates over the proposed Federal Bill of Rights, the certification of the election of George Washington and John Adams, and Washington's first official statement to Congress as president.

Thomas Lloyd's Congressional Register is the most accurate, complete account of the first session of the US House of Representatives written by an eyewitness reporter. The House, unlike the Senate, made no provision for the official publication of its debates, so Lloyd, a stenographer called the "Father of American Shorthand," served as the American public's eyes and ears to the electrifying events of that first year. Lloyd was such a successful documenter that he was made the House's official recorder for its second session. The Register was used for quotes by politicians themselves, who regarded it as the paper of record: Washington's well-used copy is at the Boston Athenaeum. A thorough editor, Lloyd includes all the congressional speeches and motions of interest. The result is a highlight record of legislative action, which any contemporary observer of the dead-locked US Congress could only find alien. Lloyd's blow-by-blow dispatches are at turns summary and transcriptive, but always capture the feel and flow of the debate on that first House floor in New York. However, the politicians then, as now, complained of the perceived political bias of the free press. The Register was considered to be in the tank for the Federalists; anti-Federalists like South Carolina's Aedanus Burke attacked the Register on the House floor for "distorting the arguments of the members from the true meaning, imputing, to some gentlemen, arguments contradictory and foreign to the subject and which were never advanced." (vol. II, pp. 442-3.) The representatives might not have appreciated it, but Lloyd's work for the Register was Sisyphean: daily transcription of long sessions of intricate, unamplified debate using quill pens, large sheets of paper, and primitive shorthand, and that was only undertaken after having secured a roster of paid subscribers. With these tools he wrote the most complete single version of the debates for the first session of Congress. But the work was so overwhelming, he abandoned the project, which had been intended to be continued annually, during the second session in 1790. Highlights in the Congressional Register include debates over the proposed Federal Bill of Rights (vol. II, p. 180); the House certification of the election of George Washington and John Adams (vol. I, p. 5); Washington's first official statement to Congress as president (vol. I, p. 174); and the election of the first Speaker of the House (vol. I, p. 3). The breadth of congressional accomplishment in that first year is awesome. According to Tinling, Congress "established a system of revenue making the national government financially independent of the states and thereby made it possible to pay off the debt accumulated during the Revolution [.] It created a federal judiciary. It provided for diplomatic representation in foreign countries, made treaties and regulated trade with Indian tribes, and organized the Western territories . . . It set up executive departments State, Treasury and War . . . and arranged for the first census." All herein. The Register was originally issued in 35 parts, Evans writes, "in weekly numbers of fifty-six or forty-eight pages [.] to each number was added an addenda, with separate paging, and titles, of the Acts of Congress passed [.] only during the session of Congress held at New York." The present set of the Register contains: 1.) An unbound complete first edition Vol. I with loss to title, 11 of 11 issues. 2.) A bound complete second edition Vol. II lacking addenda, 9 of 12 Issues. The second edition of volume two is identical to the first, besides the title. Copies of the Congressional Register rarely appear, and are almost always in parts. A run of the 1789 House debates is essential to any collection of Americana.

Bibliotheca Historica 482. Boston Athenaeum's Washington Catalogue, pp. 53-54. Brinley 4886. ESTC W20073. Evans 22203, 22204. Murphy 1467. NAIP W030486. Sabin 15608. Tinling, Marion, "Thomas Lloyd's Reports of the First Federal Congress," William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 (October, 1961), pp. 519-545. Not in Goldman, Howes, Powell.

Item #39492

Price: $12,000.00