Gordon Thomas The Humourist Being Essays Upon Subjects Viz News-Writers… 1720 First Edition Signed by United States Senator and NYC Grid Designer John Rutherfurd

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The Humourist: Being Essays Upon Subjects, Viz. News-Writers… with a Dedication to the Man in the Moon. By the Author of the Apology for Parson Alberoni; the Dedication to a Great Man concerning Dedications &c. London: Printed for W. Boreham at the Angel in Paternoster Row, 1720. Signed twice by U. S. Senator John Rutherfurd, who was appointed by the New York legislature as commissioner to lay out the city of New York north of Fourteenth Street 1807-1811.

Description

Description

[Gordon, Thomas], The Humourist: Being Essays Upon Subjects, Viz. News-Writers… with a Dedication to the Man in the Moon. By the Author of the Apology for Parson Alberoni; the Dedication to a Great Man concerning Dedications &c. London: Printed for W. Boreham at the Angel in Paternoster Row, 1720. [blank; xxx; 240 pages; vi; blank], 1n-12, 16 cm. Bound in full dark brown contemporary calf, red morocco title label on the spine, five raised bands.

Ex libris U. S. Senator, John Rutherfurd, Esq. of “Edgerston,” his estate in New Jersey. Senator from 1791 – 1798, presidential elector 1788; graduate of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, 1779. A student of the law, John Rutherfurd was admitted to bar for the practice of law in New York in 1784. The U.S. Senate Historical Records Office states: Rutherfurd was made “… president of the Board of Proprietors of East Jersey 1804-1840; appointed by the New York legislature as commissioner to lay out the city of New York north of Fourteenth Street 1807-1811; moved to a large farm on the banks of the Passaic River in 1808, which he called “Edgerston”; appointed by the New Jersey legislature as commissioner to determine the route and cost of a canal to connect the Delaware and Raritan Rivers in 1816; served as a commissioner to determine the boundary lines between the States of New Jersey and New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania 1826-1833; died at his home, ‘Edgerston,’ New Jersey, February 23, 1840; interment in the family vault in the burying ground of Christ Church, Belleville, Essex County, N.J.”

Ex libris U. S. Senator, John Rutherfurd, Esq. of “Edgerston,” his estate in New Jersey. Senator from 1791 – 1798, presidential elector 1788; graduate of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, 1779. A student of the law, John Rutherfurd was admitted to bar for the practice of law in New York in 1784. The U.S. Senate Historical Records Office states: Rutherfurd was made “… president of the Board of Proprietors of East Jersey 1804-1840; appointed by the New York legislature as commissioner to lay out the city of New York north of Fourteenth Street 1807-1811; moved to a large farm on the banks of the Passaic River in 1808, which he called “Edgerston”; appointed by the New Jersey legislature as commissioner to determine the route and cost of a canal to connect the Delaware and Raritan Rivers in 1816; served as a commissioner to determine the boundary lines between the States of New Jersey and New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania 1826-1833; died at his home, ‘Edgerston,’ New Jersey, February 23, 1840; interment in the family vault in the burying ground of Christ Church, Belleville, Essex County, N.J.”

Sen. Rutherfurd’s abbreviated signature appears on the on the title page and again on page 100. There is a partial loss of paper to p. 131 affecting three lines of text slightly, but not the verso p. 132. There are mysterious scorch marks on the final blank and back end paper. The book is slightly cocked. Very occasional margin marking in ink, otherwise a bright, clean copy, in a tight early binding.