[Rarebooks] F/S An American Periodical with a Brown University and Foxcroft Maine Connection

[Garry R Austin]

Sometimes it's just the fun of the research that leads you further down the path;
F/S net to all, postpaid $75.00

Bigalow, H., Editor and Publisher. The American Monthly Magazine And Critical Review. New York: H. Bigelow, Printed by T. & W. Mercein, Vol. 1, No. 1, May-October, 1817.
First edition; octavo; pp; (3), 4-482, (ii), Contents table; three quarter black leather and marbled boards, endpapers and edges, spine lettered in gilt; Moderate wear to the binding, corners bumped and worn, still a tight supple copy. A previous owner has utilized the preliminary blanks to transcribe pieces on love and botany.

This copy belonged to a Brown University student, James S. Holmes of Foxcroft Maine, it is signed by him and dated Aug. 12th, 1818. Among the important characters in the early history of Foxcroft is the town's first lawyer, Mr. J. S. Holmes. He was a graduate of Brown University, and opened the first law office in 1822. Previous to 1822, there had been no schools above the grammar grades, but in this year, Holmes being deeply interested in education, organized a high school in the village and was its first principal. A charter for an Academy was granted Jan. 31, 1823. and Foxcroft Academy then became the first incorporated school of this sort in the State, and lacked only three years of being as old as the State itself. The school has been, all through its history, as is stated in the act of incorporation, "for the promotion of literature, science, morality, and piety."
Mr. Holmes Esq. has been referred to as the "leading legal light" of Foxcroft. Holmes was the subject of John F. Sprague's, James Stuart Holmes, the Pioneer Lawyer of Piscataquis County, (1888), Williamson's Bibliography of Maine, #9414.


Garry R Austin
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