Pennsylvania and Delaware | Two foundational documents for Penn's colonies, printed by Franklin

[Pennsylvania and Delaware]

The Charter of Privileges Granted by William Penn, Esq; to the Inhabitants of Pensilvania and Territories. Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1741 (bound with:) Laws of the Government of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware. Philadelphia, B. Franklin, 1741

Two works bound together, folio (293 x 175 mm). Woodcut armorial to the title-page of the Charter, ownership signatures to title of the Charter and leaf [a]2, leaf [a]2 also with a bookseller ink stamp in the margin, ownership signatures and a few manuscript annotations in the text, ownership inscription to final leaf of the Laws; old paper repairs to the upper and inner margins of Charter title-page, and to the top edge of the three subsequent leaves, not touching the printing, light toning and occasional pale spots or stains, the worst of it affecting gatherings 2Z to 3S and [4C] in the Laws, marginal tear to upper edge of leaf 3Z1, the final leaf in the Laws trimmed about a third of the way up the leaf, not affecting the text. In period-style full speckled calf, the spine gilt decorated with five raised bands and with a red morocco label lettered in gilt, the boards bordered with decorative blind-rolls, the board edges gilt; expert restorations to joints, a few white stains to boards, overall a very nice and finely bound copy. Black leather folding-case.

Two rare documents relating to the founding of Pennsylvania and Delaware colonies, both printed by Franklin and bound together as intended.

William Penn's Charter of Privileges of 1701 was Pennsylvania's foundational political document, and the colony's constitution until the Revolutionary War. It would later become the basis on which the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be drafted in 1787. The Charter, signed during Penn's second visit to his colony, replaced the three earlier "Frames of Government." It institutionalized religious tolerance, due process, and legislative independence. It also allowed for the Three Lower Counties to form their own independent legislature.

The Laws of the Government of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex contains the foundational legal statutes of Delaware, after it separated from Pennsylvania in 1704. Franklin's 1741 edition of the Laws, offered here, "is the first collected Laws of the Three Lower Counties, and is as well the first collection of laws of one of the original thirteen states" (Streeter). A revised and expanded edition would be published in 1752 by Franklin, after additional laws were enacted that year.

This book belonged to James Gorrell, a British colonial officer during the French and Indian War. In the late 1750s he served in western Pennsylvania and along the New York frontier. In 1761 he was sent to the Great Lakes region, first to Detroit, and then to "La Baye," now Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was put in charge of a dilapidated fort. "Besides protecting the British traders and maintaining a sense of law and order at this frail outpost of the empire, Gorrell's main function was to try to secure good relations with the Menominees, Foxes, Sauks, Winnebagos, and Sioux" (Dictionary of Canadian Biography). Later on, he served again in the Great Lakes region around Albany and Detroit, and was finally assigned to the West Indies, where he likely died of disease in 1769–70.

Prior to his military career, however, Gorrell was officially empowered by the General Assembly of Delaware to sell property in the town of Dover, and he is explicitly mentioned in the Laws of the Government of … Delaware. In 1683, William Penn decided that a court town called Dover should be built in Kent County. That year, he signed an order to survey and lay out the town. With 200 acres around the courthouse surveyed and divided, it was long since time to sell the properties. On pages 130–132 of the Laws, Penn's plan for Dover is put into action with "An Act impowering John Holliday, James Gorrel, and Thomas Skidmore, jun. of Kent County, Gentlemen, to sell and dispose of all such of the Lots of Ground within the Town of Dover. …"

REFERENCES

Miller 252, 232; ESTC W7472, W26381; Streeter sale II:953; David A. Armour, "Gorrell, James," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 3 (2003); Delaware Public Archives — https://archivesfiles.delaware.gov/markers/pdfs/KC_A6_3.pdf

PROVENANCE

James Gorrell (signature on title of the Charter) — George Cummons (early signature on leaf [a]2) — Issac Carty (early 19th century ownership inscription on final leaf) — Sarah Doughless (illegible nineteenth-century signature on title, and a legible one in the text) — E. Ellery Antiquarian Book-Store (twentieth-century ink stamp on leaf [a]2)