The American Museum, or, Annual Register of Fugitive Pieces, Ancient and Modern. For the Year 1798. [Volume XIII]

Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey, by W. & R. Dickson, Lancaster, 1799. 8vo. (8 1/2 x 5 inches). [p]2, A-Eee4 Fff2, [x]4. pp. [5] 6-416, [6], last leaf blank. Last leaf of index in facsimile. Ink signature [Henry Houck's Book | March 19th 1837] on title and [Henry Houck] on back flyleaf. The folded table called for in Sabin is not called for in Evans and is not described in the copies of the Library Company of Philadelphia or the Bodelian. Tree calf with six gilt double-ruled compartments on spine with black Morocco letter-piece in second compartment

"The first successful American magazine" (Mott). A true American classic: Mathew Carey’s (truncated) American Museum for 1798, the rare, separately issued "Volume XIII," which helped win the 1800 presidential election for Thomas Jefferson.

The American Museum, America's first literary magazine, was a pioneering effort on the part of its publisher, Mathew Carey, to develop and promote an indigenous literary culture. Carey founded the American Museum using a $400 loan from none other than the Marquis de Lafayette. During its publication, Carey printed a total of 72 monthly issues from January 1787 through December 1792, which were later bound into twelve volumes. A separately published thirteenth volume, as here, followed in 1799 to support Thomas Jefferson's 1800 presidential candidacy. Carey's original editorial goal was to cull from other sources the best essays on political, economic, and cultural subjects, as well as poetry and prose, and offer it to a national audience. American Museum is the "one magazine [that] reprinted some of the essays outside of New York City" (Maggs). A favorable opinion of the Museum from George Washington, who said a "more useful literary plan had never been undertaken in America," was often reprinted in advertisements and enhanced the magazine's reputation (Sabin). The Museum fast became the first resort for governmental information, including the proceedings of Congress, activities of cabinet departments, texts of state constitutions, treaties with foreign countries, and current international developments. Carey cast a wide net in soliciting writers and topics for his periodical. Among the "most eminent writers of that day" (Evans) who contributed were Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Rush. This work, referred to as "Volume XIII" of the American Museum, appeared in June of 1799 after a seven year gap in the magazine's publication and was undertaken in support of Thomas Jefferson's presidential candidacy in the election of 1800. Carey worked closely with his friend Tench Coxe on Jefferson's campaign, as Jefferson favored rapprochement with France, a pet issue for Carey. Volume XIII gathers documents of public interest on the war, the XYZ Affair, and America's relationship with France. Carey distributed copies of Volume XIII across his national network. The resurrection of Carey's popular magazine promoted the Democratic-Republican position on the issue and was effectively used by Tench Coxe as campaign propaganda: Jefferson won the election. Volume XIII also includes an interesting article from the United States Gazette, "To Arm, or not to Arm, this is the Question," concerning militias and the military of this nation, "Ye live united, or, divided die," (p. 150). Other articles concern the prospect of war, American neutrality, the seizures of American merchantmen, and difficulties with French and British forces. The text of President John Adams's inaugural address is provided (p. 277), as well as more philosophical articles, such as a discourse on the death penalty, "A Enquiry, how far the Punishment of Death is necessary" (pp. 5-39). This volume is an intelligent and lively window into the early American polity. The success of the American Museum helped establish Mathew Carey as the leading printer of his generation. Through the publication of the periodical he was able to develop a distribution network which greatly aided him as he became a leading book publisher. A congressional change in postal rates for magazines in 1792 forced Carey to end the initial run of American Museum in order "to have recourse to some other object that might afford a better reward to industry."

Chielens, American Literary Magazines, pp.19-24. Evans 35105. Green, Mathew Carey: Publisher and Patriot, pp. 6-7. Kaminski, Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, 2009. Maggs, A Concise Guide to the Federalist Papers as a Source of the Original Meaning of the United States Constitution, 816. Mott 100. Sabin 1162. Sabin VI, 145. (Inventory #: 41438)