Walter Lowrie, Matthew St. Clair Clarke, Walter S. Franklin, eds. AMERICAN STATE PAPERS. DOCUMENTS, LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE, OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES... Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1832-1834. Period half bound calf over marbled paper-covered boards, with marbled endpapers. Vols. I-XIV, XVI, XVIII-XIX, XXI (18 of the 21 volumes in the First Series with the following breakdown: Foreign Relations (vols. I-IV), Indian Affairs (vols. I and II), Finances (vols. I-III), Commerce and Navigation (vols. I and II), Military Affairs (vols. I and II), Naval Affairs (one volume), Public Lands (vols. I and III), Claims (one volume), and Miscellaneous (vol. II) (Lacking Post Office and one volume of Public Lands and Miscellaneous). Folio. With indices; Public Lands, vol. III with numerous plates including (2) folding. Howes A212; Sabin 1228; Larned 2484.

Each 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 in.

Sabin states that "This valuable work was printed by order of the United States Government, and distributed through the Members of Congress. It contains reprints, not only of all the early occasional publications of the Congress that could be found, but many important papers from the Archives of the Government never before published." (vol. 1, pgs. 153-154). This lot includes a near complete set of the First Series. Per Sabin, it has the complete First Series of Foreign Relations, Indian Affairs, Finance, Commerce and Navigation, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, and Claims, but is lacking one volume each of Post Office, Public Lands, and Miscellaneous. Sabin notes that the Second Series, published a few years later, is often found separately and includes additional volumes in Foreign Relations, Finance, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, and Public Lands for a total of (17) vols., bringing the total of both series to (38) volumes and including government records from 1789 to 1838. (vol. 1, p. 154)

Condition of the volumes ranges from fair to good plus. Boards with scuffing, fading, edgewear, and bumped and rubbed corners, with occasional dry cracking to leather and chipping, spines with frequent creasing and wear to ends; joints creased, rubbed, or cracked, with some boards loose; wear to endpapers with occasional soiling, grime, tear, and partial or full losses; infrequent worm holes; occasional minor damp stain with a few volumes with heavier damp staining such as Indian Affairs; pages with light to heavy toning and foxing, with occasional pencil writing, frayed edge, small tear or corner loss; Indian Affairs. vol. II lacking final endpapers and with final index page torn and attached to paste-down at inner margin.