THE DRESDEN PRESS*

For a thorough understanding of the Dresden press and the Dresden imprints, imprints which, by the way, are listed by bibliographers as being the first Vermont imprints, and which are also the first Hanover imprints, it is necessary to study the history of the New Hamphire Grants. This history, although very interesting, is too long and too complex to be discussed in detail in this paper. In brief it is as follows:

Benning Wentworth, governor of the territory now known as New Hampshire, made grants of land west of the Connecticut River. The first township so granted was Bennington, granted January 3, 1749. By 1764 he had granted 130 townships west of the Connecticut and 50 or more east of the river.** New York, however, claimed the land west of the Connecticut by a grant made to the Duke of York in 1663. There was a continual dispute over this land until in 1704 the king setttled the matter by declaring the western bank of the Connecticut River as the dividing line between the provinces of New Hampshire and New York.*** The dispute, however, continued. As the New York government attempted to regrant the land granted by Governor Wentworth and so drive the settlers from their homes, the people of the New Hampshire Grants- rebelled, called several conventions, and finally formed the independent state of Vermont, January 15, 1777.

In the meantime the settlers of the Connecticut Valley east of the River had been left more or less to themselves by the New Hampshire government at Exeter. Because of lack of representation in the Exeter government and for other reasons, they wished to ally themselves to the Vermont towns. This action was favored by the people of Hanover, known as the Dresden or College party and led by Bezaleel Woodward, son-in-law of President Eleazar Wheelock of Dartmouth College. The union was, however, opposed by Ethan and Ira Allen and other settlers who lived near Bennington and who were known in this controversy as the Bennington party. Another phase of this controversy was the proposition that the towns on both sides of the Connecticut River form a separate and independent state. This idea was favored by the Dresden or College party but opposed by the Bennington group.

It may be interesting to pause in the midst of this controversy to examine into the origin of the use of the name Dresden, a name which appeared frequently in all of the correspondence and documents of this period. The petition dated February 19, 1778 for establishing the town of Dresden is, in part, as follows:

"Whereas the original and great design of Incorporation is to secure the rights and immunities, of the people, and to preserve inviolate the residue of that liberty which is delivered into the hands of society; and Whereas for the aforesaid purposes, by the Royal Presents of George the 3d, King of Great Britain, Patents were made out whereby two tracts of land were incorporated in the N. H. Grants by the names of Hanover and Lebanon; In consideration that an institution of learning was fixed in the South west corner of said Hanover, and a large tract of land contiguous appropriated to the use of the same; The aforementioned towns of Hanover and Lebanon did at their annual meetings in March 19th and 26th, 1771, resolve to consent and agree to petition the Legislature that a district of land containing at least three miles square, be made in the South west part of Hanover, and north west part of Lebanon, and be incorporated into a distinct town, which has not hitherto taken place by reason of the public confusions; but as the number of inhabitants is at this time considerably increased, and our distance from the usual place of town meetings in said Hanover is near six miles, and the public road naturally uncomfortable for travelling, whereby it is impossible for us to enjoy all those rights and privileges which were originally designed by incorporations; As all power at present centers in the people, as the towns have fully consented and agreed that we should be incorporated into a distinct and separate town by ourselves, and as the united committee have recommended it in their convention of Orford, Jan. 28, 1778, that the inhabitants of towns that are not already incorporated should incorporate themselves as soon as conveniently may be:

We do. therefore maintain, publish, and declare that we are incorporated into a distinct Town, and do hereby by our own act and deed incorporate ourselves into a separate town by. the name of Dartmouth. . . . . . *

As the name Dartmouth had been given to a township, now Jefferson, in the northern part of New Hampshire, the name of Dresden was substituted at a meeting held February 25, 1778. This district or town kept its existence until 1784. No reason has been found for the choice of the name.

At a session of the Vermont Assembly held June 17, 1778, sixteen of the New Hampshire towns, including Cornish, Lebanon, Enfield, Dresden, Canaan, Cardigan, Lyme, Orford, and others, were admitted to the new State of Vermont. On June 30 the town of Hanover voted "to join with the state of Vermont." On June 4 of this year President Wheelock petitioned the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, meeting then at Bennington, to take Dartmouth College under its "friendly and charitable patronage". The Assembly on June 15 "voted to take the incorporated University, known by the name of Dartmouth College, under the protection and patronage of this state until the rising of the Assembly in October next." President Wheelock was also appointed a Justice of the Peace by this Assembly.

To return to the controversy, Vermont had long wished to join the union. Ethan Allen had been sent to Congress to lay before that body the claims of the independent state of Vermont. He discovered that Vermont would not be admitted to the union as long as she lay claim to any of the towns east of the Connecticut River. 1 his union of the towns east of the Connecticut River with Vermont was accordingly dissolved February 12, 1779.

Early in 1778 it became evident to the College or Dresden party that a printing press was essential to their interests. At this time there was no press in any part of the Vermont territory. The presses nearest Hanover were at Exeter and Portsmouth and as these were probably more or less under the control of the New Hampshire government they were not available for the revolutionary publications of the College party. So in March, 1778 we find Wheelock writing Benjamin Pomeroy, one of the trustees of the College living' in Connecticut, as follows:

"Dart. College, March 30, 1778.

My very dear and Rev. Sir —

"This hasty line is upon a special and important occasion and an affair which I could freely trust with none who has not the interest of this College so at heart, as freely to exert himself to promote the same.

"We have been long wishing for a good Printer in this Vicinity, and since the forming of the State of Vermont, in which we expect this College will be included, we apprehend the motives to induce a Printer to come will be very strong and inviting — as He may serve both the State and the College; but we have lately heard that endeavors are vigorously rising, to obtain a State Printer on the other side of the Mountains about Eighty Miles from us, which will wholly defeat the desire as well as purpose of the College, as we shall be nearer to Exeter than to that place proposed, Mr. Trumbull Printer at Norwich has been well recommended to us, as a Man of virtues, learning, and fidelity in his business. These are therefore to pray you, kind Sir, as quick as possible to ride to Norwich and see what you can do for us having due respect to the moral, religious, and literary accomplishments of the Man, as well as his fidelity and skill in the business of his profession, and let him know that there is now a door open for him in this vicinity, if he will come or engage to come speedily, and will be open til you have had a reasonable time for him to come, or you to send. — We hear they have' wrote a young Mr. Green to go on the other side of the mountains and one's coming or determining to come hither will better serve the state a well as College and no doubt stop their proceedings therein. Pray don't fail. — I am thro' the pure mercy of God able to walk a little. — My family in statu quo — all give love in abundance, especially,

Your most affectionate

Eleazar Wheelock

The Rev. Doctor Pomeroy P.S.

If Doctor Pomeroy should not be at home I would pray the Rev. Mr. Lathrop or Doctor Bliss to undertake and effect the same as defined above.

"E. W."*

Colonel John Wheelock was apparently sent to Connecticut to procure a printer soon after the receipt of this letter, for in Eleazar Wheelock's diary for June 18, 1778, we find the following: "Paid son John, toward his expenses to procure a printer 15 dollars which I expect that he or myself shall receive of the subscribers, the whole of his expenses besides his own time (?) and service was 40 dollars to be paid by the subscribers".**

The next information that we have is contained in the following letter from Timothy Green, a Connecticut printer, to President Wheelock:

"New London, July 16, 1778.

"Dear Sir,

"The time set for my sending up to your state, materials for carrying on the printing business, having elapsed, makes a letter to you necessary.

"I would therefore take the liberty to inform you that Mr. Spooner (the elder brother)*** whom I chiefly depended on to conduct the business, has been concerned in privateering, for several weeks, (having been engaged previous to my engagement to you) and could not disengage himself till about ten days ago, but is now at liberty and both ready and willing to undertake in the business.

"The last week went to Norwich with a view of putting up the materials and was informed that one of the oxen which was to go in your cart, is lame, and unable to perform the service, and that the cart is tho't to be unfit to transport so heavy materials.

"Mr. Spooner is now out of business on this account, but hope it will not be long before the team is ready, whenever it is, he will be ready to proceed with the materials.

"He bo't a horse the last week, with a view of setting out directly for Hanover, in order to consult with yourself on the matter of setting up his business, and to be informed whether any paper had been procured; but on further consideration it was tho't best to defer it till the materials were on their way to Hanover; but the ox being lame has prevented the prosecution of that plan.

"I hope you will do him every reasonable service, as to furnishing him with stock to begin with, as well as with work; and wish he may serve the public with faithfulness, and with credit to himself.

"Am sorry I can't spare a larger quantity of types than I shall send with him ; but expect ere long to be able to do it.

"I am with great respect, kind Sir, your obedt. servant.

"Timo. Green."*

At a session of the Vermont legislature held at Windsor, October 10, 1778, it was "voted and resolved that Judah Paddock (sic) and Alden Spooner be and are hereby appointed printers for the General Assembly of the State".** Bezaleel Woodward of Dresden was clerk of this Assembly. Mr. Chase in his history of Dartmouth College infers that Judah-Padock Spooner* was at Connecticut at the time of this vote whereas his brother Alden was at Dreden but I have been unable to locate his authority for this statement.** A lot of land, one half acre in size, was given "Alden Spooner printer" in 1778 by the college on the spot where the Tontine Block afterwards stood.*** This might indicate that Alden alone came to Hanover.

Did both Spooners come to Hanover is one of the interesting unsolved problems regarding the Dresden press. Green writes of Judah Padock Spooner's plans for going to Hanover and does not mention Alden Spooner. Thomas in his History of Printing, speaks of Judah Padock Spooner as a Dresden printer and does not mention Alden as such. On the other hand, we find a lot of land in Dresden was given Alden Spooner, printer. According to a news item in the Vermont Journal [Windsor] for May 26, 1826, written by Wyman Spooner, son of Alden Spooner, and while Alden was still living in Windsor, we learn that Alden Spooner bought the press used in Dresden in 1772 and removed from Norwich, Conn., to Dresden with it in 1778. Here no mention is made of Judah Padock Spooner. Judah was wounded at Bunker Hill, after which he engaged in privateering, was captured and imprisoned in the Old Jersey, where he contracted "long fever" and was sent home with a broken constitution, so he may have been too ill to come to Hanover in the fall of 1778.

We do know, however, that probably the first Dresden printing was done in October, 1778.* In a bill made out by the Spooner brothers to the State of Vermont and covering work done by them for the state the first item in this bill is dated October 15, 1778. This is for 250 blank commissions. No copy of these "commissions" is now known. These were probably broadsides and are of interest as being the first examples of official printing done on the Dresden press. This bill in full is as follows:

STATE OF VERMONT

To Judah P. & Alden Spooner, Dr. 1778 £ S D Oct. IS—To 250 Blank Commissions ................ 10 0 0 Oct. 27 — To 100 Proclamations 15 0 0 To 300 Election Sermons. 50 0 0 Nov. 7 — To 100 Handbills.... 5 0 0 Nov. 10 — To 200 Journals of Assembly ................... 45 0 0 1779 — T0 200 Notes 9 0 0 Feb. 10 — To 450 Vindication of General Assembly .............. 105 0 0 To Horse and Expenses to Bennington .............. 17 10 0 To 30 Public Defenses &c. 9 0 0 March 4 — To Printing 350 Convention Sermons ...... 122 10 0 To 4 Reams 48 quires paper for ditto .............. 66 0 0 March 5 — To 150 Letters 10 0 0 To Paper for ditto 4 4 8 April 3 — To 70 Proclamations 14 0 0 To 3 quires Paper for ditto 4 10 To Printing 60 Votes of Assembly .............. 10 0 0 To 1¼ quires of Paper for ditto ................ 1 13 9 April 15 — To 50 Schemes of a Lottery .................. 13 10 9 To Printing 1000 Tickets.. 30 0 0 To 2 reams paper for do., @ £27 .................. 54 0 0 April ' 21 — To Printing 350 Esq'r Allen's Report ...... 12 0 0 To 7½ quires paper @ £27 10 1 6 June 1 — To printing Laws, 32 sheets', @ £24............... 768 0 0 To 16 Reams Paper for ditto, @ £19................. 304 0 0 To 19 ditto, £27............. 513 0 0 To 16 quires omitted in sum above.................... 21 12 0 To folding, sewing, cutting, etc., 500 books........ 25 0 0 To expense in transporting to Windsor................... 9 0 0 £2258 3 11

We find that Ira Allen, treasurer, paid the above bill on June 4, 1779 at Windsor. The receipt is signed by Alden Spooner alone, a fact which might indicate that although the Spooners were in partnership Judah Padock never came to Hanover, but remained in Connecticut.*

For some time it has not been definitely known which was the first imprint to come from the Dresden press. One bibliography gives the place of honor to a sermon by Aaron Hutchinson, of Pomfret, Vermont. The title page reads 'A well tempered Self-Love a Rule of Conduct towards others: A SERMON Preached at Windsor, July 2, 1777, before the Representatives of the Towns in the Counties of Charlotte, Cumberland, and Gloucester, for the forming the State of Vermont". This pamphlet of 42 pages bears the imprint "Dresden. Printed by Judah-Padock & Alden Spooner." No date is given, however, on the title page. As shown by the bill rendered by the Spooners to the State of Vermont, the printer's charge for this sermon is not dated until March 4, 1779. An edition of 350 copies at a cost of 122 pounds was issued. Ira Allen's letter "To the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont", dated Dresden, Nov. 27, 1778 (but without imprint) is among the items printed in 1778, but is not an official item. The only known copy of this is in the Brooks Library at Brattleboro, Vt. This copy was discovered only three or four years ago. That it was printed in 1778 is evident from a letter to President Weare from Ira Allen dated Windsor, December 12, 1778:

"As I wish to do nothing that concerns a neighboring State, but what should be there made known, I therefore herewith Inclose to you my Printed Letter to the Inhabitants of this State, as also an Extract of the Procedure of a Convention called at the Request of those Gentlemen that withdrew from the council and Assembly of Vermont at their session in October last ; — said) Convention was held at Cornish on the 9th day of Instant December."*

There were also other Dresden imprints printed in 1778. We find 100 proclamations are billed October 27, 1778. The proclamations referred to were probably Thanksgiving Proclamations. In the Journal of the General Assembly under date of October 9, we find,

"Voted and resolved, that Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next, be observed as a day of public and solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for his manifold mercies, and that his Excellency the Governor be desired to issue his proclamation therefor." The only known copy of this proclamation was recently acquired by the Dartmouth College Library. It bears no imprint but is dated in council at Windsor Oct. 18, 1778.

Three hundred election sermons, the sermon of Burroughs referred to later, were billed at the same time. On November 7, one hundred handbills, on November 10, two hundred journals of the Assembly and two hundred "notes" are billed. A reference to the "handbills", no copy of which is known today, is found in the records of the General Assembly Journal for October 20, 1778. It has never been known that the Assembly journals were printed and so far as I have been able to ascertain no copy is in existence.

In the Journal of the General Assembly for October 21, 1778, we find a possible reference to these "notes".*

In the Journal for October 24, 1778 we find,

"Resolved that a committee of two, to join a committee from the council, be appointed, to prepare the acts passed at the former sessions and likewise the present session, for the press, and get them printed. Committee chosen, Cap'. Ebenezer Curtis and Col. John Barrett.

No copy of the 1778 laws is known. Although Slade in his Vermont State Papers states that these laws were printed in 1778, later authorities have been inclined to doubt his statement.** It would seem that these laws, however, were printed, for in the manuscript volumes of the Vermont State Papers, kept in the office of the Secretary of State at Montpelier, we read,***

"DR. the state of Vermont to John Barrett

November 17, 1778 To 21 days service fitting (?) laws for the press and going to Hanover to carry these @ 36 s per day £37-16-0 to horse hire 90 miles @ 1 s 4-10-0 £42-6-0

A true account John Barrett

Further information regarding these laws may be found in Ira Allen's Letter "to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont, dated Dresden November 27, 1778. At the end of this letter we find, "N. B. The Laws of the State is come to hand and will be ready for sale in a short time."

I have, however, be.en unable to find any bill made out to the state for these laws. Mr. Wilberforce Eames, of the New York Public Library, an authority on early printing in this country, is inclined to believe that these laws, although delivered to the printers, were never printed.

Of the items printed by Alden and Judah-Padock Spooner, "printers to the general assembly of the State of Vermont", there are four known bearing this imprint and these are probably the first Dresden imprints.To this same official period belong the unknown imprints (the blank commissions, the handbills, the journals, the notes, the laws, the letters, the votes of Assem- bly, the schemes of a lottery, the [lottery] tickets), all listed on. the Spooner bill.

One of the most interesting of the official publications of the Spooner brothers is an election sermon of 1778. The title page reads as follows: "A sincere Regard to Righteousness and Piety, the Sole Measure of a true Principle of Honor and Patriotism. Illustrated in a Sermon Preached before his Excellency the Governor, the honorable Council and House of Representatives in the State of Vermont October 8th, A. D. 1778 by Eden Burroughs A. M. pastor of the church in Hanover." This example of the press is especially interesting as it is the only one bearing the imprint "Dresden, State of Vermont". On the Spooner bill this sermon is billed October 27, 1778. In the Journal of the General Assembly for October 9, 1778, we read as follows:

"Voted, and resolved, that Jonathan Freeman, Esq. and Capt. David Woodward, be a committee to wait on the Reverend Eden Boroughs (sic) and return him the thanks of this Assembly, for the sermon delivered by him to them, yesterday; and that they desire a copy thereof, for the press.

Voted, and resolved, that Mr. Woodward and Col. Morey, be a committee to procure three hundred copies of the above mentioned sermon printed at the expense of this State."*

Although apparently 300 copies of the sermon were printed, only two are known today. Copies are in the John Carter Brown Library at Providence, Rhode Island, and in the Library of the University of Vermont at Burlington.

Another official publication is the "Acts and Laws of the State of Vermont in America, a volume of 110 pages. This volume contains the constitution of Vermont, and is the first general code of the Laws of Vermont. About twelve copies are known. Following this came "Acts and Laws Made and passed by the General Assembly of the Representatives of the Free Men of the State of Vermont.at their Sessions at Windsor June 2nd, 1779." This item of two pages has no imprint and only a half title, but the pagination begins with page 111 following that of the February laws. All known copies of these June laws are found bound with the February laws. The copy of the general code in the Huntington Library, however, does not contain the laws passed at the June session. A broadside proclamation, without pagination and imprint, promulgating the laws is usually found bound with the laws of the February and June sessions.

In the Jones copy of the laws this leaf giving the proclamation is a part of the last signature of the February laws, but is an unnumbered page. It is not known that this was ever issued separately. Probably it should not be listed as a distinct Dresden imprint.

In the records of the Vermont Governor and Council we find under date of February 26, 1779 the following references' regarding this broadside: "Resolved that Jonas Fay and Colonel Moses Robinson be and they are here-by appointed to draft a proclamation to be published at the same time when the laws are printed and circulated throughout this state, also that his Excellency with them prepare the Laws for the press."*

Printed probably about the same time as the laws, and also an official item is a broadside by Governor Chittenden dated June 3, 1779.* Only the Phelps collection in the Brooks Lione copy of this is known and that is in brary at Brattleboro, Vermont. It bears, the imprint "Judah-Padock & Alden Spooner, printers to the general assembly of the state of Vt." This is a proclamation of pardon.

One of the Dresden imprints, "A Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Government of New York and of their Right to form into an Independent State. Humbly submitted to the consideration of an impartial World," by Ethan Allen was printed by "Alden Spooner, 1779, printer to the state of Vermont."** This is the only Dresden imprint which refers to Alden Spooner alone as State Printer. In the Journals of the Governor and Council under date of August 23, we find references to this pamphlet.

From the Council Journal October 27, 1779 we read:

"Resolved that Mr. Amos Robinson be & he is hereby requested to call on the Printers of this State and desire him [them] to complete the Pamphlets Intitled a Vindication by Ethan Allen, and that said Mr. Robinson see them Transmitted to the Governor at Arlington without delay."***

Although the union with Vermont had been dissolved February 12, 1779, Alden Spooner was still in Dresden late in October and still state printer for Vermont. This was probably the last imprint of the Dresden press. This pamphlet, copies of which are located in the Vermont State Library, the Boston Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the Dartmouth College Library, has brought $115 at auction. It consists of 172 pages, of which 90 pages is the Vindication and the remaining pages an appendix consisting of a reprint of Allen's arguments ,in favor of the validity of the New Hampshire grants etc. published in 1774.* Another of the controversial pamphlets printed by Alden Spooner at Dresden is Ira Allen's, "A Vindication of the Conduct of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, held at Windsor in October 1778, against Allegations and Remarks of the Protesting Members; with Observations on their Proceedings at a Convention held at Cornish, on the 9th. Day of December 1778." The date 'Arlington, 9th Jan. 1779" appears on the title page of this pamphlet of 48 pages, 450 copies of which were printed not later than February 10, 1779, the date of the bill.

One of the most important of these political controversial pamphlets is "A Public Defense of the right of the New Hampshire grants (so called) on both sides Connecticut River, to associate together, and form themselves into an Independent State." With this is sometimes found "Resolves of a Convention held on the New Hampshire Grants." This report of the Cornish Convention of December 9 consists of four pages and its pagination is not continuous with that of the Defense which has fifty-ix pages. The Dartmouth College Library has a copy of the Resolves issued separately and another copy bound at the end of the Public Defense. The Defense is dated December 1, 1778, but was not billed until Feb. 10, 1779. It has brought from, $40 to $530 at auction. In the printed Resolves of the Cornish Convention it is stated that "a pamphlet entitled a public defense was repeatedly read and unanimously approved." There is some question about the use of the word pamphlet in this case. Inasmuch as the pamphlet itself was not printed until 1779, the defense could not have been read in pamphlet form on December 9, 1778. Possibly, the word pamphlet was not used in the original manuscript, but was substituted for the original wording when the manuscript was given to the printers. Or it may have been called a pamphlet because the Assembly intended to have it printed and circulated in that form. The committee who were to make their report at the Cornish Convention would certainly make it from manuscript rather than from a printed copy.

Let us now consider some of the publications of the Dresden Press on which the words "printers to the general assembly of the State of Vermont", are omitted. There are three of these with the imprint of the Spooner brothers including the Hutchinson sermon previously mentioned. In addition to these the first newspaper printed in the upper Connecticut Valley "The Dresden Mercury and the Universal Intelligencer" bears the imprint of both brothers and was printed "in the south end of Dartmouth College." Of this paper only five copies are known, two of which are in the library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, one .in the New York Public Library, one, only discovered in December, 1919, in the Dartmouth College Library, and one dated September 17, 1779, found this spring in a private library in Rutland, Vt. For some time the date of the first issue of this newspaper was unknown, but this question has finally been settled. In the Pennsylvania Historical Society Library there is a manuscript journal of Sargeant Major John Hawkins from which I quote as follows:

"1779, April 28. About four o'clock at Dresden, a handsome little village and deserves particular notice. At this town I found our regiment despersed in different houses of the town.

In this town is that seminary of learning called Dartmouth College (named after Lord Dartmouth) where Indians are educated. The founder and late president of it, Rev. Eleazer Wheelock D. D. died the 24th. Besides the College there is another house called the Hall or Church and as I am informed answers for both. A little in the rear of this and the College stands a very elegant dwelling house of the late President, in which his family resides. There are several other dwelling houses not much inferior, and I understand many more would have been built had not the inhabitants this way, sometime ago, labored under the dreadful apprehension of being driven from their peaceful abodes by the savages. The oldest house here I was informed was built not more than nine or ten years ago, and not one built within the last three years. Several thousand acres of land round the town belong to the College, some of which, if not all, is rented out.

Besides all this, I was greatly surprised, though much pleased, to find a printing-office established in this part of the world. This vehicle of learning, this liberty of liberties, is in the south end of the College; it is a small though neat printing office, and where a vast deal of printing work is performed. While I was in the printing office I observed a printed proclamation posted up in full view, from the Governor of Vermont, ordering the approaching General Fast Day to be observed and kept. In perusing the Proclamation I found that the Governor and Council of this new State resided at Bennington. The printers at Dresden had in their hands and which they were printing "The Laws and the Fees of Officers in the Civil Department of the State of Vermont. I likewise saw there, proposals for printing a newspaper in that town."

The following day the regiment left Dresden and halted at Lyme. At Piermont, Hawkins on May 6 states, "This day I had the perusal of the Ist No. of the Dresden Mercury, dated May 4th."

As the Dresden Mercury was not printed until after February 12, 1779 - the date of the dissolution of the union of the Vermont and New Hampshire towns — it can not be claimed, as has been, that this was the first newspaper to be issued in Vermont.

The item, "The Laws and Fees of Officers in the Civil Department of the State of Vermont", mentioned by John Hawkins as a Dresden imprint, is unknown to bibliographers and today is known only by the reference to it in this manuscript. In the Journal of the General Assembly for October 24, 1778, we find "a table of fees passed the house," an entry probably referring to this publication.* The printed Fast Day proclamation mentioned by Hawkins is also unknown and was, in all probability, printed at the Dresden Press. The "proposals for printing a newspaper" was probably a printed broadside and likewise a Dresden imprint .

A news item of Hanover interest taken from the Dresden Mercury of August 3 is the following:

"To the PUBLIC"

"The ravages committed by Wolves in his new country, for several years and months past — destroying Cattle, Sheep, &c. demand the attention of every person in it. — Notwithstanding the few which are killed here and there, they are become exceeding numerous, — and in many instances have grown very bold—to that degree, that unless measures are speedily taken to suppress them, there is danger they will attack defenceless Inhabitants. — Every person who keeps Sheep or Cattle is too well acquainted with the mischiefs done by these voracious Animals not to exert himself to the utmost for their destruction: — and if the means to accomplish it could once become general, they might undoubtedly be almost wholly, if not entirely exterpated from among us. Several methods to 'destroy them have been proposed. It has at length been agreed on by the Select-men and others of several Towns, earnestly to recommend to the good People of every Town contiguous to Connecticut-river, as well as to those of the back Towns, which in general are more exposed, — that they meet together, and consult upon the matter, and if they think advisable (surely it is of consequence) that they appoint one or more from each Town, to meet at the house of Capt. Brewster, in Dresden, on the last Thursday of August next, at 10 o'clock in the morning, to consult and agree upon some general plan to effect the design abovementioned; — either by hunting, trap- ping, bounty, or any other way which may be thought best: — and wage an open war, not with the Wolves of Britain only, but with the Wolves of the Wilderness also.

Norwich, July 15th, 1779."

Two of these issues of the Dresden Mercury contain references to the union of the Connecicut Valley towns. Besides news of the country each number contains a column of poetry. Another state document undoubtedly printed at the Dresden press, but with no imprint given, is. a broadside reading in part as follows :*

"Windsor, State of Vermont. In Council, Windsor, 7th June, 1779. Resolved, that the Captain-General's orders of the 6th of May last, to Colonel Ethan Allen, together with an extract of the proceedings of the adjourned Superior Court, held at Westminster, in the South Half-shire of the County of Cumberland, on the 26th day of May last, and his excellency's proclamation of the 3d instant, be published. Extract from the minutes, Jonas Fay, Secretary pro temp". Only one copy of this.has been found. This is in the Library of the Library Company of Philadelphia. The last part of this large folio broadside contains the proclamation for pardon which, issued as a separate broadside with practically the same wording, has been previously mentioned.

To Dartmouth men one of the most interesting of the Dresden imprints is a general catalogue of the college, a broadside listing the graduates from 1771 to 1779. Two copies of this are known, one in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the other in the Yale Library. This is the first printed catalogue of any sort issued by the college. The last of the imprints printed by the Spooner brothers is "A compend of English Grammar; being an attempt to point out the fundamental principles of the English language in a concise and intelligible manner, and to assist in writing and speaking the same with accuracy and correctness. Written by Abel Curtis, A. B. [Motto] Printed by J. P. & A. Spooner Dresden." The location of the only known copy of this pamphlet is unknown at the present time. It was once the property of Rev. William Conant, first pastor of the Lyme, N. H., church. It was later owned by Rev. Henry A. Hazen, Dartmouth '54, and wag sold at a sale of his library at Libbies' auction rooms March 1905 for the small sum of $7.50. In the Dartmouth" for November 11, 1877, Mr. Hazen gives some interesting information about the book from which I have gleaned these facts. "This was probably the very earliest, purely English grammar written and published in America."* The author, Abel Curtis, was a graduate of the class of 1776 and lived as a boy on Christian Street in Norwich, Vt. He was very prominent in early affairs in the town and state, but died when only twenty-eight years old. This pamphlet in size is 6 x 3½ inches and consists of 49 pages. In the preface the author states "that there is no treatise extant adapted to the genius and circumstances of the times, and fitted to young and vulgar capacities." Grammar is defined: as "the Art of writing and speaking any particular language in a proper and correct manner."

Caleb Bingham of the class of 1782 Dartmouth College was the author of "Young Ladies Accidence", a grammar first issued in 1785 and largely used about 1800. This went through many editions. Mr. Hazen believes that Bingham, who entered college the year Curtis' grammar was published owes much of the originality of his publication to Curtis. Judge Crosby, of the class of 1820, Dartmouth College, in his "First Half Century of Dartmouth College", says of this grammar: "I think Dartmouth is entitled, in this little book of Curtis's, to much of the credit of the new life, simplicity, and brevity .thrown into the elementary school-books of the few following years, when American authors drove out of our schools English schoolbooks, 'none of which', said Webster in his 'Third Part', is calculated particularly for American schools.

There were later editions of Curtis's Compend. The only copies of these that I have been able to locate are in the extensive collection of early school books owned by George A. Plimpton of Ginn and Company. Mr. Plimpton has an edition published at Norwich, Conn., in 1780 and another published at the same place in 1785, which is marked as ,he fourth edition.

The first printed charter of Dartmouth College was undoubtedly printed a' the Dresden press. This pamphlet of thirteen pages bears no place or date of imprint but has a printer's device used on several of the known Dresden imprints. In going over the Trustees' records of Dartmouth College the first reference to the charter is found under date of August 31, 1779: "Voted that Messrs. Woodward, Ripley, and Wheelock be a committee to get the charter of the college printed." The next annual meeting of the Trustees was held September 19-21, 1780. Under date of September 21, we read: "Also that said Woodward, their agent, had in behalf of the trustees made payments for the college since the last commencement as follows

For printing 500 copies of the charter of the College £8."

The Dartmouth College Library is fortunate in owning the only known copy of "An Oration on Early Education", a pamphlet of 14 pages printed by Alden Spooner. On the title page the author states that "The following Oration was designed by the Author, to be composed in such a Manner as he thought would be most useful to the Audience in general and he has not affected a florid style, or the Beauties of Composition, but to communicate his Sentiments with the greatest Simplicity and Plainness,— the candid Reader, 'tis hop'd, will excuse every Defect." Whether or not he "affected a florid style" may perhaps be judged from the following quotations :

"Furthermore, there is a duty incumbent on parents towards their children, which the God of nature dictates; and is taught them, in some measure, by the wild beast of the field, even the nutrition of their bodies. But yet there is a second duty of infinitely more importance, that is, their education; this duty concerns every parent, as they will free themselves from the guilt of their final undoing, prevent those blooming flowers from becoming thorns that will pierce the eyeballs of their fond and pleasing hopes. In these respects, and many others, education stands in near relation to that ever-blooming morn that treads on the heels of time. But to sum up all, education softens the rough and savage passions of the mind that are wild by nature; smoothes the boisterous and foaming seas of unbridled lust and ambition, melts the obdurate and unrelenting heart into compassion; adds sweetness to the bands of society; extends and brightens the rational faculties of the human soul, that distinguish man from the brutal creation, lays the foundation of states and kingdoms, crowning their glory with liberty and freedom. expels the clouds of ignorance, pointing out the way from earth to heaven, and affords that pleasure to the mind, that can be found in nothing else that is human, even next to that which is heavenly and divine."

This address was delivered as a valedictory at the 1779 commencement, probably held in August of that year. On page twelve of the pamphlet there is an address to "my dear classmates" in which the author speaks of having been elected by his classmates to speak for them. There were seventeen graduates in this class, and this address was delivered by the Rev. Samuel Wood, minister in Boscawen, N. H., from 1781-1836. While at Boscawen Mr. Wood prepared many men for college among whom was Daniel Webster. *

The total number of possible Dresden titles known today is thirty four. It is quite likely that other pamphlets printed at the Dresden press may be discovered in the near future. Four of the known titles have been found within the last few years. Evans, in his American Bibliography, lists as a Dresden imprint an early controversial article by Timothy Walker, "An Address to the in-inhabitants of the New-Hampshire Grants (so called) lying westward of Connecticut River. "As no copy of this is known, there is no direct evidence that this is a Dresden press book or that it was ever printed. The copy of this in vol. 10 of the New Hampshire State Papers and in Vol. 5 of Governor and Council was printed from manuscript and not from an early printed copy.

In the Phelps collection in the Brooks Library at Brattleboro I have seen an imprint unknown to bibliographers, "Remarks of the Proceedings of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, at their sessions in October, A. D. 1778. Containing an explanatory comment on sundry of their Resolutions, etc. By a Committee of the protesting Members. Addressed to the Freemen and other Inhabitants of said State." * This is a pamphlet of three numbered pages with a half-title page. It is signed "Joseph Marsh" and dated Windsor, October 23, 1778. It is quite probable that this was printed at Dresden. In the same collection at Brattleboro is a folio broadsheet addressed "To the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont. This is signed Ira Allen and dated Norwich July 13, 1779. This in all probability is another Dresden imprint. In this letter Ira Allen refers to a handbill issued by the comittee of the Cornish Convention April 23.** No copy of this is known. In all probability this would have been printed at Dresden. In another letter Ira Allen refers to a handbill he himself issued, but this, from evidence in the letter, was probably printed at Exeter.*** In the Spooner bill under date of April 21, 1779 is a charge for printing 350 copies of Esq'r Allen's Report

This report by Ira Allen I have been unable to identify. The date does not correspond with either of Allen's printed letters to the inhabitants of Vermont.

Probably no items were printed at Dresden after October, 1779 as the Vermont laws for the October, 1779 session were sent to Hartford, Connecticut, to be printed and came from the press in 1780, and the laws for the session held at Westminster March, 1780 were also sent to Hartford to be printed. The first printing in the territory now included in Vermont was certainly at Westminster, Vermont, probably in November, 1780, but we have no record of any 1780 Dresden imprints nor any in Westminster before November 1, 1780, the date on which Judah P. Spooner has a charge for 80 Thanksgiving Proclamations.* On this same date in his bill against the state of Vermont he makes a charge of one pound, three shillings, and seven pence "To Horse and expenses to Dresden for Type, 46 miles." Where were the press and the printers for the greater part of this year ? In the Records of the General Assembly of Vermont for October 27 1779 we read:

Whereas it is absolutely necessary that a printing office be erected within the limits of this State, to print the laws that are or may be enacted by the legislature from time to time; to publish a newspaper under the signature of this State; and to do other incidental business", etc.

"Therefore Resolved, That Edward Harris, Esq., Major Benjamin Wait and Amos Robinson, Esq., be and they are hereby appointed a committee to procure a printer for the purpose aforesaid. Said committee are hereby impowered to wait on Mr. Alden Spooner, printer to this State, now at Dartmouth College, and give him the offer of continuing printer to this State providing he will remove hisl press to Westminster without loss of time; and if said Spooner should refuse or neglect to remove his press as aforesaid, then said committee are likewise impowered to make application to some other printer to move to the place and do the business aforesaid without loss of time."

Other documents are as follows:

"10th March 1780, the State of Vermont to THOS. BUTTERFIELD Dr. To 19 days self and hors in 2 jurneys to Dresden and Westminster to procure a printer and fix the State hows (?) for that purpose To expenses £153-0-0 160-0-0*

"STATE OF VERMONT,

March 15, 1780

To the Honorable the General Assembly, Now sitting at Westminster.

The committee appointed by the Honorable Assembly at Manchester last October to procure a printer Beg . leave to report as follows :**

"Pursuant to our instructions we made emediate application to Mr. Alden Spooner to Remove his press as quick as possible to Westminster. Mr. Spooner replied he would engage for himself to serve as printer to the State but as the Types were Mr. Green's he must have his approbation for moving them. Mr. Spooner informed he was going to Connecticut emediately and would see Mr. Green and upon his Return he would give an answer in full. On his Return one of the Committee waited on Spooner again and askt him if he could be indulged with the types. Mr. Spooner answered he could and he would move to Westminster as soon as the Court House might be repaired so as to make it convenient for his business and he could procure paper.

EDWARD HARRIS) BENJAMIN WAIT) Committee" AMOS ROBINSON)

Mar. 16, 1780

"Resolved, That the Governor and Council be and they are hereby appointed and requested to obtain a printer to settle within this State for the purpose of printing the Laws, etc., as soon as they judge it necessary."*

June 12, 1780

"Resolved, That Joseph Fay, Esq., be and he is hereby appointed and requested to procure a printer in this State."**

Aug. 18, 1780

"Resolved, That the agreement relative to a printer, Between Stephen R. Bradley, Esq., in behalf of the State of Vermont and Mr. Timothy Green printer at New London, (Conn.) be and hereby is ratified on condition that Mr. Green send his son to print for this State in Leu of Mr. Spooner.

Some authorities state that Timothy Green was in Vermont with the Spooners first at Dresden and then at Westminster. We know that one of the Spooners, probably Judah-Padock, was is company with Timothy Green, the Norwich, Connecticut, printer, in 1778, because of a sermon by Timothy Stone delivered in 1777 and printed by Spooner and Green in 1778. Then, too, the letter of Timothy Green in the Dartmouth College files would seem to indicate a partnership with Judah-Padock Spooner. Thomas, in his History of Printing, states that Judah-Padock Spooner and Timothy Green removed from Norwich, Connecticut, to Westminster in 1778 and then later says, "Spooner had the whole management of their printing house as Green still prosecuted the printing business in New London", and still later in his volume states that Green and Spooner went to Hanover before going to Westminster.*

It is a puzzle to know whether Green ever came to Vermont or not. The Connecticut Acts and Laws for various sessions in 1779 and 1780 and 1781 were printed by Tim. Green "printer to the Governor and Company", (of Connecticut). The Vermont Acts and Laws, however, for the February, 1781 sessions have the imprint "Westminster. Printed by Judah P. Spooner and Tim. Green, printers to the state of Vermont". Was Green in Connect- icut or Vermont?

Some confusion has doubtless arisen from the fact that there were two Timothy Greens, father and son. One, therefore, may have been printing in Connecticut, while the other was printing in Vermont.

The printing press on which these Dresden items were printed has a most interesting history. It is supposed to be the Daye press, believed to have been the first printing press used in the Unit-Ed States. It was brought to this country in 1638 by Stephen Daye, who died at sea. It was set up by his widow in Cambridge, Mass. On it was printed the Bay Psalm Book, Eliot's Indian Bible, and other rarities. The press came into the possession of the Green family in Cambridge and is supposed to have been taken by this family of printers to Connecticut. From Connecticut it was taken to Dresden. The Dresden or the Daye Press, after leaving Dresden, was located in various Vermont towns and finally came into the possession of the Vermont Historical Society and may now be seen at Montpelier, Vermont.

LIST OF DRESDEN IMPRINTS

(1) Blank commissions. No copy known.

(2) Vermont Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by Gov. Chittenden. 1778. Broadside. No imprint.

(3) Burroughs, Eden. A sincere Regard to Righteousness and Piety, the sole Measure of a true Principle of Honor and Patriotism. Illustrated in a Sermon Preached before his Excellency the Governor, the honorable Council, and House of Representatives in the State of Vermont October 8th, A. D. 1778. Dresden State of Vermont. Printed by J. P. &A. Spooner. 30 pages.

(4) Handbills. No copy known.

(5) Journals of Assembly. No copy known.

(6) Notes. No copy known.

(7) Remarks on the Proceedings of the General Assembly of the state of Vermont signed Joseph Marsh. Windsor, October 23, 4778. Half title page. 3 pp.

(8) Allen, Ira. "A Vindication of the conduct of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont held at Windsor in October, 1778, against Allegations and Remarks of the Protesting Members; with Observations on their Proceedings at a Convention held at Cornish, on the 9th day of December 1778." Dresden. Printed by Alden Spooner. 48 pages.

(9) Allen, Ira. Letter "To the inhabitants of the state of Vermont." One copy in Brooks Library at Brattleboro. No imprint. Dated Dresden November 27, 1778. 3 pages.

(10) A Public Defence of the right of the New Hampshire Grants, (so called) on both sides Connecticut River to associate together, and form themselves into an Independent State. Printed by Alden Spooner, 1779. 56 pages.

(11) Resolves of a Convention held on the New Hampshire Grants. Half title. No imprint. 4 pages.

(12) Laws. 1778. No copy known. Mr. Eames believes this was never printed.

(13) Hutchinson, Aaron. A well tempered Self-Love a Rule of Conduct towards others; A Sermon Preached at Windsor, July 2, 1777, before the Representatives of the Towns in the Counties of Charlotte, Cumberland, and Gloucester, for the forming of the State of Vermont. Printed by Judah-Padock & Alden Spooner. 42 pages.

(14) Letters. No copy known.

(15) A, proclamation for a "General Fast Day" by the Governor of Vermont, April, 1779. No copy known.

(16) Votes of Assembly. No copy known.

(17) Schemes of a Lottery. No copy known.

(18) Tickets (lottery). No copy known.

(19) Esquire Allen's Report, April

21, 1779. (Have been unable to identify this.)

(20) Proposals for publishing a paper. Broadside. No copy known.

(21) The Dresden Mercury and the Universal Intelligencer. JudahPadock & Alden Spooner. First issue May 4, 1779. Copies known are dated July 13, 1779, August 3, 1779, Aug. 9, 1779, Sept. 17, 1779, Sept. 27, 1779.

(22) The Laws and the Fees of Officers in the Civil Department of the State of Vermont. No copy known. April 28, 1779 in press.

(23) Acts and Laws of the State of Vermont in America. Judah-Padock & Alden Spooner printers to the General Assembly of said State. 1779. 110 pages.

(24) Acts and Laws made and passed by the General Assembly of the Representatives of the Freemen of the State of Vermont, at their Sessions at Windsor, June 2d, A. D. 1779. 2 pages. No separate imprint, but with half title. This item is usually bound with item number 23.

(25) A broadside entitled "By his Excellency Governor Chittenden, Esq.; Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the State of Vermont. A Proclamation [Promulgating the laws of the State and enjoining the inhabitants to govern themselves accordingly]. Given under my hand, and the seal of the State, in the third year of the independence of this and the United States of America, and in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine. Thos. Chittenden, By his Excellency's command, with advice of Council, Joseph Fay, Sec'ry. No imprint. Probably not a separate Dresden imprint, but issued with the laws.

(26) A broadside proclamation of general pardon by Governor Chittenden dated June 3, 1779. Judah-Padock & Alden Spooner, Printers to the General Assembly of the State of Vermont.

(27) A broadside (only one copyknown) entitled "State of Vermont. In Council, Windsor, 7th June, 1779. Resolved, that the Captain-General's orders of the 6th of May last, to Colonel Ethan Allen, together with an extract of the proceedings of the adjourned Superior Court, held at Westminster, in the South Half-hire of the County of Cumberland, on the 26th day of May last, and his excellency's proclamation of the 3d instant, be published." Extract from the minutes, Jonas Fay, Secretary pro temp. No imprint.

(28) Allen, Ira. Letter "To the inhabitants of the State of Vermont." Dated Norwich July 13, 1779. No imprint. Broadsheet.

(29) Curtis, Abel. "A Compend of English Grammar, being an attempt to point out the fundamental principles of the English language." J. P. & A. Spooner. Dresden 1779. 48 pages.

(30) The Charter of Dartmouth-College. Half title. No imprint. 13 pages.

(31) Catalogus eorum qui in Collegio-Dartmuthensi (A Reverendo Eleazaro Wheelock S. T. D. divinis auspiciis instituto) Nov-Hantoniae, ab anno M,DCC,LXXI, ad annum M,DCC,LXXIX, alicujus gradus Laurea donanti sunt. Typis Judah-Padock et Alden Spooner. M,DCC,LXXIX.

(32) [Wood, Samuel] An Oration] on early education. Dresden. Printed by Alden Spooner M,DCC,LXXIX. 14 pages.

(33) Allen, Ethan. "A Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Government of New York, and of their Right to form into an Independent State . Humbly submitted to the consideration of the impartial World. Alden Spooner, printer to the State of Vermont. 172 pages.

(34) Handbill of the Committee of the Cornish Convention. No copy known.

This an abstract and revision of a paper read before the Ticknor Club of Dartmouth College, May 1, 1918. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Wilberforce Eames of the New York Public Library for his kindness in reading this paper and for valuable suggestions.

**Chase, A History of Dartmouth College, page 434.

***papers and Proceedings of the Conn. Valley Hist. Society 1876-1881, p. 154.

*Chase, p. 461: Dartmouth JIJSS. 778169-1.

mss. 778230.

**Chase, p. 468. Dart, mss. 778403.

***judah Padock Spooner.

Dart. mss. 778416.

**Slade Vermont State Papers, p. 278.

*Spelling used on the imprints.

**Chase, p. 475.

***Chase, p. 236.

*Mss. volume Vt. State Papers, vol. 8, p. 307.

*Vt. State Papers, vol. 8, p. 307.

*Gov. and Council, vol. 5, p. 539.

*Slade, p. 99.

**Slade, p. 287.

***Vt. State Papers, vol. 8, p. 297.

*Slade, p. 277.

Gov. and Council, vol. 1, p. 288.

*Gov. and Council, vol. 1, p. 442.

**Gov. and Council, vol. 2, p. 12.

***Gov. and Council vol. 1, p. 444.

*Brinley Catalogue No. 2513,

*Slade, p. 285,

*Vt. Gov. and Council, vol. 1, p 350

*Littlefield in his ' Early Schools and School Books of New England," erroneously states that the first English grammar printed in America was Noah Webster's "A Grammatical Institute of the English Language," published in 1784.

*Coffin, History of Boscawen & Webster, p. 457.

*Gov. and Council, vol. 1, p. 423.

**Gov. and Council, 1.436.

***Gov. and Council, 1.432.

*Vt. State Papers, vol. 8, p. 37.

*Vt. State Papers, vol. 8, p. 174.

**Vt. State Papers, vol. 31, p. 27.

*Gen. Ass. Tour.

**Gov. and Council, vol. 2, p. 33.

*Thomas, p, 172, p. 512.

THE FIRST PRINTED CATALOGUE OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE