Description:

Rare period periodical, the July, 1786 issue of "The County Magazine", No. VII, Vol. I, published in Salisbury by B.C. Collins. The publication, 16pp. 4to., most notably offers on the penultimate and final pages an essay titled "A true Description of the Interest and Policy of the Continent of America: By his Excellency Dr. Benjamin Franklin, President of the State of Pennsylvania". In this essay, Franklin offers an overview of the state of the American economy shortly after the close of the American Revolution, in small part: "I see in the public newspapers of different states, frequent complaints of hard times, deadness of trade, scarcity of money, &c. &c. It is not my intention to assert or maintain that these complaints are entirely without foundation. There can be no country or nation existing, in which there will not be some people so circumstanced as to find it hard to gain a livelihood; people, who are not in the way of any profitable trade, and with whom money is scarce, because they have nothing to give in exchange for it. And it is always in the power of a small number to make a great clamour. But let us take a cool view of the general state of affairs, and perhaps the prospect will appear less gloomy than has been imagined..." He goes on to discuss the activities of the agricultural sector, urban property owners, fishery stocks and the role of merchants and shopkeepers, in general offering a view concerned not so much with the contemporary state of affairs as the future detriment caused to the country by a growing market for luxury goods imported from overseas. This essay was originally published in 1784 as “The Internal State of America”, in order to encourage the emigration of European citizens to America; however, this 1786 version is much scarcer, as "The County Magazine" was only published for two years. No known copies of this July 1786 issue have been located in any major archive. Disbound from a larger volume, Shows minor foxing and toning to the edges, else very good.

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July 31, 2019 10:00 AM EDT
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