Volume from Library of Thomas Lynch, Jr. - Second Rarest Declaration Signer

Description: [THOMAS LYNCH, JR.] POPE, ALEXANDER. Selecta Poemata Italorum Qui Latine Scripserunt: Volume II. London: Printed by J. & P. Knapton, 1740. First edition, hardcover, 7” by 4.5”, 252 pages, in original state. The book is in good to very good condition with the edges of the boards rubbed, small portions of the front board panel missing, minor chipping to the spine, the front board beginning to detach from the spine, minor staining to the endpapers, minor bookworm damage to the last few pages and rear endpapers, and the front free endpaper clipped. A VOLUME FROM THE LIBRARY OF THOMAS LYNCH, JR., THE SECOND RAREST SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE A volume of Italian Poetry in Latin from the library of Thomas Lynch, Jr. with his name once present on the front free endpaper, but has since been clipped out. Lynch (1749-1779) is the second rarest Signer of the Declaration of Independence next to Button Gwinnett. The volume comes from the personal collection of Joseph E. Fields (1912-1999), an American historian and biographer who was one of the foremost experts and collectors of signed material from the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. His most well-known works included biographies and signature censuses on the three rarest Declaration Signers: Button Gwinnett, Thomas Lynch, Jr., and Arthur Middleton. THE VOLUME HAS BEEN AUTHENTICATED BY AND IS FROM THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF JOSEPH E. FIELDS, ONE OF THE FOREMOST EXPERTS AND COLLECTORS OF SIGNED MATERIAL FROM THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCEAccompanying this volume is an extremely rare copy of Fields’s A Signer and His Signatures or The Library of Thomas Lynch, Jr (Harvard Library Bulletin, Volume XIV, Number 2, Spring 1960, first edition, personally owned by Fields) providing details on the provenance of the volume; a typed letter signed (two pages, New York City, December 2, 1985) from Mary-Jo Kline, the former Head of the Books and Manuscripts Department at Sotheby’s, to Fields in regards to the Lynch signature that was originally in the volume; and a certificate of authenticity from RR Auction.1. a. Fields references this volume in the second list of books in Lynch’s library in Section II of the Library of Thomas Lynch, Jr: “There were other titles that once belonged to the Signer but were not listed in the inventory of the estate. By what method they escaped the inventory we can only speculate. Such titles known to be sources of or to contain signatures of the Signer are as follows:…8. Alexander Pope, ed., Selecta poemata Italorum qui Latine scripserunt, 2 vols., London, 1740.”.b. Fields acquired the volume from Herman P. Hamilton, a direct descendant of Lynch who had inherited the largest collection of books from Lynch’s library. Fields states in Sections II and III of his Library of Thomas Lynch, Jr: “the original books from which a large number of signatures were clipped have been recently discovered in the possession of a present-day member of the Lynch family, Mr. Herman P. Hamilton of Chester, South Carolina…Mr Hamilton, grandson of Samuel Prioleau Hamilton, and great-great-grandnephew of Lynch, Jr”. These books and the volume currently being offered for sale were clipped by Hamilton’s direct descendant Elizabeth Lynch Hamilton, Lynch’s sister who inherited a large portion his estate. Fields states in Sections II of his Library of Thomas Lynch, Jr: “The library of Thomas Lynch, Jr, was divided among his sisters, Miss Esther Lynch, Mrs James Hamilton, and Mrs John Bowman. Miss Esther Lynch’s share of the library presumably descended to her nieces, the Misses Bowman. It has been from the descendants of Mrs Hamilton and Mrs Bowman that the autographs of the Signer, largely from the books in his library, have been made available to collectors.”.2. The Lynch signature referenced in Kline’s letter is the original signature that was in the volume: “I enclose the Xeroxes sent to me by the owner of the Stillman pamphlet which bears a “Lynch” signature…I’d be grateful for any advice you could give me on just what to look for in the original to make a final determination one way or the other”. Fields determined the signature was authentic and that it originally accompanied the volume.3. RR Auction authenticated this volume as being in Thomas Lynch, Jr.'s library based on the documentation that accompanied it and they offered it for sale in their Fine Autographs & Artifact Auction featuring Founding Fathers in July 2017.

Price: 3750 USD

Location: Spartanburg, South Carolina

End Time: 2025-01-13T18:33:55.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD