[Manuscript] A Public Address on the Opening of a Lyceum in Massachusetts, circa 1830

[Massachusetts, 1830. Very Good. Manuscript. Oblong octavo (9” x 6 ½”). A gathering of 20 leaves, stitched, consisting of 38 manuscript pages neatly written in ink. The final leaf is blank. A few short tears and light creasing along the spine, the first leaf and final blank leaf are moderately foxed, very good. An excellent example of an early American oration. The author expounds at length on the importance of a Lyceum to promote intellectual culture among a town’s citizens. After first citing leading contemporary public figures in Massachusetts, including Daniel Webster and Governor Levi Lincoln, the author pays homage in particular to Benjamin Franklin and other famous self-taught men: “At the time Franklin established himself in Philadelphia there was not a good bookseller’s shop to the southward of Boston”.

He outlines the history of Western culture, ranging from Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum to John Locke and Pierre-Simon Laplace. Throughout the address he stresses the importance of overcoming adversity in the pursuit of philosophical and scientific knowledge: “A constant struggle has been kept up between virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance, mind and body …” He also stresses the importance of practicality in the attainment of one’s aims: “… in all the exercises connected with our Lyceum, we ought to aim at utility rather than originality …”

A well-written, classic example of early 19th century American oratory.