277
●
(VERMONT.)
A Journal of the Proceedings of the General Assembly of
the State of Vermont . . . February 1784
and
June 1785.
2 volumes. 4to, early
1
/
4
calf,
moderate wear, later leather armorial plates on front and back covers; corner wear to first
volume touching text on final page, minor dampstaining; library markings including
embossed stamps and inked number stamps on second pages.
Windsor, VT: Hough & Spooner, 1784-85
[500/750]
These proceedings date from Vermont’s time as an independent state, before joining the United
States in 1791. Evans 18853, 19344; McCorison 80, 101; Sabin 99025, 99027.
PRAYER BOOK “GOT AT THE STORMING OF FORT NIAGARA”
278
●
(WAR OF 1812.)
The Primer or Office of the B. Virgin Mary.
8vo, con-
temporary calf, worn and largely disbound, with contemporary cloth cover; worn
throughout, with frontispiece and title page detached and laid down on early paper, likely
lacking some leaves, and numerous early inscriptions throughout.
Dublin: R. Cross, circa 1803, with inscriptions through 1873
[3,000/4,000]
This Catholic hymn and prayer book was captured by a British soldier at the Battle of Fort
Niagara. Garrett FitzGerald was a color sergeant of the 100th Regiment of Foot from Dublin,
the regiment that led the legendary surgical strike on Fort Niagara which killed or captured
more than 400 Americans while suffering only 3 fatalities. It was one of the great British
victories of the war. Inscribed in this volume on facing blank pages are “G. FitzGerald, Color
Sergt 100th or late 99th Regiment,” and “Garrett FitzGerald’s book, got at the storming of
Fort Niagara, United States of America, the morning of 19th December 1813.”
After the war, Sergeant Fitzgerald received a land grant in Richmond, Ontario near Ottawa
(as did many of his compatriots). His family’s births, marriages, and deaths through 1873 are
recorded in this volume on 5 blank leaves, as well as manuscript prayers. This book is not
pretty, but it has been through a war. A remarkable artifact of an important battle.
278
I...,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126 128,129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,...194