Harvard Unable to Avoid Importing British Books during the Strife with Britain: Shipping order for 50 GBP of books for Harvard College.
Manuscript Document. "London, April 17, 1773, Ship'd on board the Dartmouth[,] Captain Hall for Boston... by Thos. Longman Bookseller in London, One Trunk and one Case of Books for the use of Hartford [sic] College... Condsign'd to Mr. Thos. Hubbard Treasurer of the said College." Some 76 titles are detailed with costs.
An additional approx. 14 titles not shipped have notes such as "Reprinting," "not yet published," "out of print," "never published," and "new additions with many additions and corrections by ye editors." The books span
all topics: theological, judicial, historical, scientific (natural history, astronomy, voyages & exploration, & medical), & drama. Narrow folio. 2-1/2 pp. Fine condition. $7,500
Harvard College Treasurer's Account Ledgers, Signed by Thomas Hubbard, John Hancock, and Others.
34 pp. total: Two paired narrow folios of slightly different heights, one 19 pp. and the other 15 pp., never bound. Some fold separations
but clean and near fine condition.
A) "An accompt of Bonds, Notes & Mortgages belonging to Harvard College in the Treasurer's Hands 10th September 1772." Spans 1752 to 1772, and totals 15,702 GBP, 1,500 of which is in government securities. (6 pp.) Followed by Harvard's debits & credits (12 pp.), signed by Treasurer Thomas Hubbard, Sept. 10, 1772. And, closing with a lengthy full-page of certifications of a favorable audit of Treasurer Thomas Hubbard's work, signed by the Committee of Corporation, Samuel Locke, Andrew Eliot, and Samuel Cooper, Sept. 19, 1772; the Committee of the Overseers, Harrison Gray, and James Russell, Sept. 25, 1772. 19 pp. A vast wealth of information, from legacies and rents, to building materials (shingles bought from John Hancock), the writing of diplomas, and even the purchase of chocolate and grinding of cocoa.
B) A similar work as the above, but primarily 1772 & 1773. Also examined by committee appointed to audit Hubbard's accounts: notably with a ten-line Autograph Manuscript Signed entry of John Hancock, Boston, Dec. 22, 1772 [just six days after the Boston Tea Party], on which date he, Eliot, Cooper, Gray, & Russell found the accounts "right cast & well vouch'd". Further, Hancock pens that they "also find a Balance of One hundred & one pounds eight shillings & three pence half penny due from the Executors of the last Will of the late Hon. Mr. Treasurer Hubbard to Harvard College."
Also, a separate attestation signed by Nathaniel Appleton as having been read & accepted at meeting of the Corporation, Dec. 27, 1773. Then signed and attested by Andrew Eliot at meeting of the Overseers, May 3, 1774. 15 pp., seemingly lacking an introductory page but by and large complete.
[With C): a separate 1766 land deed for tracts in Shutesbury, Mass., belonging to Hubbard and his heirs; signed by such luminaries as Thomas Cushing, Samuel Sewall, and Edmund Quincy, 2 pp.]
The lot: $48,000.
These manuscripts dovetail perfectly with Harvard University Archive's Papers of Thomas Hubbard and Mary Jackson Hubbard, 1729-1779. HUM 38.
Colonial North America at Harvard Library.