"The American Universal Magazine", Number V, Volume III; Monday, November 15, 1797", with frontispiece portrait of English prison reformer John Howard (1726-1790) copper engraving by Thackara & Vallance, published by Samuel Harrison Smith and Thomas Smith, Philadelphia.

Marbled soft cover, 4.1/2" x 7.1/2", frontispiece plate has c. 2" long vertical crease at the bottom [see photo] ; paginated pp. 397-464; some wear and some foxing; good condition.A bi-weekly magazine which was primarily eclectic in its content, lasting from Jan. 2, 1797 to March 7, 1798.

The engravers of the frontispiece:

James Thackara (Philadelphia, 1767-1848), apprenticed to James Trenchard and married his daughter. From 1791 to 1797, he established an engraving partnership with John Vallance. Later, he was appointed Keeper of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

John Vallance (c.1771-1823) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and moved permanently in about 1791 to Philadelphia, where he worked as an engraver specializing in scrip and banknotes.[Thackara & Vallance are engravers of the first map of Washington, D.C. (1792)].

Articles in this issue include: On Electricity, by M. Valli, MD; Account of Charles XII King of Sweden; The Advantages of Cleanliness in Preventing Infectious Diseases; Tonquin Conjurors; Remarks on Industry No. II; State of Chemistry in Germany; On the Effects of the Cold of the Winter 1788-89 on Animals and Vegetables; Account of Capturing Elephants; Account of Some Ancient Tombs by Paul Demidoff [excavation of ancient tombs in Siberia]; Shakespeare's Crab-Tree; The Mystery of the Iron Mask; Regeneration of Certain Parts of the Bodies of Fishes; Anecdote Concerning Ragotski Prince of Transylvania; poems, one by Charlotte Smith.

Samuel Harrison Smith (1772-1845) was an American journalist and newspaper publisher and the founder and publisher of this magazine. In 1800, Smith founded "National Intelligencer," and "Washington Advertiser," which became the dominant newspaper of the capital. Joseph Gales joined the newspaper becoming his assistant in 1807, and took over the paper as its sole proprietor in 1810.

Smith was a friend, confidant and counselor to the third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. In February 1801, Smith published Jefferson's Manual, "A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States." In 1813, Smith was appointed Commissioner of the Revenue for the United States Treasury Department by President Madison. On September 30, 1814, he was appointed as Secretary of the Treasury, as interim, until a new cabinet officer was chosen. During the period 1809-19, Smith served as president of the Bank of Washington. He served as president of the Washington branch of the Bank of the United States from 1819 until the position was abolished in 1835.

Samuel Harrison Smith was born in Philadelphia and received an academic degree from the University of the State of Pennsylvania in 1787. He opened a printing business in Philadelphia in 1791 and published two comparatively short-lived periodicals before achieving success with the Universal Gazette in 1797. That same year he became Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in January 1797, that year he entered an essay in an APS competition on the subject of education and shared the first prize. He published his submission as Remarks on Education: Illustrating the Close Connection between Virtue and Wisdom, To Which is Annexed, a System of Liberal Education (Philadelphia, 1798). The society elected him to be one of its four secretaries in January 1798 and in each of the succeeding two years.

Thomas Jefferson appreciated Smith's moderate Republicanism and in 1800 urged him to move the Gazette to Washington, D.C. Although the election was still in doubt, Smith complied and began the tri-weekly National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser on 31 Oct. 1800, continuing the Universal Gazette as its weekly counterpart. For the duration of his presidency, the "Intelligencer" served as Thomas Jefferson's journalistic spokesman, and Smith also benefited from lucrative government printing contracts. He was active in the American Colonization Society, the Washington City Library, and the Washington National Monument Society (ANB; DAB; Brigham, American Newspapers, 1:103-4, 106-7, 2:927, 960; William E. Ames, A History of the National Intelligencer [1972]).

US: Priority (c 2-4 days) ----------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c 2-6 weeks) -- $27.50
World: 1st Class (c 2-8 weeks) --- $34.50