ARTICLES OF AN ASSOCIATION BY THE NAME OF THE OHIO COMPANY. Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1786. First edition, 12 pp. 24mo, in its original marbled wraps, now in a blue cloth slipcase. Sabin, 56976; Evans, 19877; Streeter-Americana-Beginnings, 49; not in Thompson (though he lists a second edition of 1787, published in New York); only referenced in Wright-Howes (in entry 50, the 1787 edition). (SS30)

Provenance: Lathrop Colgate Harper (New York); Thomas W. Streeter (New Jersey)

The Ohio Company of Associates was formed in Massachusetts in early March of 1786 for the purposes of buying and settling land north of the Ohio River. The land would be officially open to settlement the next year with the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

A significant influence in the passage of that landmark bill was Ohio Company co-founder Manasseh Cutler (1742-1823) of Massachusetts, and it was Cutler who negotiated the purchase by the company of more than a million acres of land centered on the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. Late that year, General Rufus Putnam, another Ohio Company co-founder, led the first band of settlers west from Massachusetts, landing at what would become Marietta, the first “organized" American settlement in the Northwest Territory, on April 7, 1788.

This pamphlet, along with the next lot, was once part of the legendary Americana collection of Thomas W. Streeter (1883-1965) of Morristown, NJ. Streeter began his collection in earnest in after his retirement in 1939, focusing on early maps and imprints of both early America and early Texas. After his death, Streeter’s collection was sold by Parke-Bernet Galleries in NYC in seven auctions from 1966-1969. Lots 96 and 97 here were part of the third sale on October 24-25, 1967, as lots 1304 and 1309, respectively. Articles sold for $2,100 at that auction.

Includes a typed letter signed from R.W.G. Vail of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA to Streeter, dated January 11, 1939 about the Articles. Vail indicates that he could not locate any other copy than theirs. He also references Streeter’s purchase of this pamphlet from prominent New York dealer Lathrop Colgate Harper (1867-1950).

Also included is a clipped description from the catalog of a rare book dealer, most likely Harper, referring to the present pamphlet.

In an April 9, 1954 (as published in Jack Matthews, ed., Rare Book Lore: Selections from the Letters of Ernest J. Wesson, Athens: Ohio University Press, 1991, p. 110), noted Ohio dealer Ernest Wesson tells of a copy of this rare first edition of Articles being offered to Ohio institutions by an “eastern dealer" and notes another copy that sold as part of the Paul Lemperly sale in January of 1940. Research has only located a handful of copies in libraries, and no copy can be found in the public auction record for at least a generation.

Neither the family or we could determine how this pamphlet was acquired by the Holzers or when. As both this and the next lot were from the same Streeter sale, it may be assumed that Alma or Bobbie Holzer purchased them then, or perhaps soon thereafter from a dealer who purchased them at Parke-Bernet.

Exceptional condition, with only very light toning overall, light-moderate wear to the wraps (though the binding is still tight), and a few bibliographic notations in pencil. A complete set of high-resolution images is available upon request.
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