National Magazine; or, a Political, Biographical, Historical and Literary Repository (The 1st Issue, Signed by James Lyon)

Richmond, Virginia: James Lyon, 1799. Original wraps. Good +. The June 1st, 1799 maiden issue of "National Magazine", which represents the first magazine ever published in Virginia, the first magazine printing of the Virginia Constitution and Kentucky Resolutions, and "an extraordinary contemporary resource for the anti-Federalist, Jeffersonian, Strict Constructionist philosophy of the Virginia School, a philosophy that Virginians developed to oppose the policies of Alexander Hamilton and the Washington-Adams administrations " (from "The Remnant Trust"). This, the "first National Magazine", was issued in Richmond by its young publisher and editor, James Lyon, and was printed semi-quarterly. Six issues all told were published in Richmond, "after which Lyon removed to the new seat of the Federal government". This orginal issue has been beautifully and skillfully re-bound (in 1998) by the Thistle Bindery of Florence, MA and has had both its original light-brown wrappers seemlessly bound-in. The wrappers show chipping along the edges and a degree of inevitable wear but, miraculously, almost no loss to the titling. Crisp new endsheets and thick card wrappers nicely protect the fragile original text, which has held up surprisingly well. There's a bit of light, forgivable offsetting to the body --and along the original endsheets-- and the Subscription page, which shows that one "Prin Perkins" is to receive a six month subscription for the price of two dollars, INCLUDES JAMES LYON'S STRONG SIGNATURE IN INK AS AFFIRMATION. Octavo, 107 original pgs. plus an itemized laid-in letter from Thistle Bindery and a wonderful handwritten 2 pg. example of "Binder's Notes" along the new rear endsheets, mapping out the care --and the technical processes-- that went into both creating such an elegant re-binding and protecting the original text. An impressive, important piece of Americana.