Catalogue of All the Books Printed in the United States, with the Prices, Places where Published, Annexed

Boston: For the Booksellers, 1804. First edition. 79, [1]pp. LAST LEAF IN FACSIMILE. 8vo. Later marbled wrappers. First edition. 79, [1]pp. LAST LEAF IN FACSIMILE. 8vo. "The first trade catalogue of books in the United States, of which very few copies are known" (Streeter).

The title continues: "This catalogue is intended to include all books of general sale printed in the United States, whether original or reprinted; that the public may see the rapid progress of book-printing in a country where, twenty years since, scarcely a book was published. Local and occasional tracts are generally omitted. Some few of the books in this Catalogue are now out of print; and others are scarce. It is contemplated to publish a new edition of this Catalogue every two years, and to make the necessary additions and corrections; and it is hoped the time is not far distant, when useful Libraries may be formed of American editions of Books, well printed, and handsomely bound."

"The remarkable thing about this catalogue is that it was the very first bibliographical attempt at a general catalogue, in separate form, in America. It is quite interesting as an early American booksellers' list of American publications, as well as for its classification ... The fact that no subsequent issues of this catalogue appeared, evinces the very small interest in bibliographic knowledge in those early days. This curiosity of early American bibliography gives the titles of 1338 books, all of American publication, with prices in 1804" (Spofford, A Book for All Readers, p. 479)

The work was reprinted in 1898 for the Dibdin Club and at that time only three examples were known. Scarce in the trade, with the last example at auction being the Streeter copy in 1969. Sabin 11486; Shaw & Shoemaker 5987; Streeter sale 4319