Title: Votes and proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania. Beginning the Fourth Day of December, 1682. Volume the first in two parts.

Identifier: Rare Oversize J87.P4 v.1...   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/58574)

Description: Proceedings of the House of Representatives for Pennsylvania beginning 1682 and extending until 1752. This item, printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall in 1752, was transformed by an unknown owner in the middle of the 19th century into a commonplace book, where literary items were excised from their original context and pasted into this volume. Commonplace books provided access to maxims, excerpts, poems, recipes, quotes, and items of interest to their creators and were used as mnemonic and informational organization devices from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. The entire interior surface of this folio law book was converted into a receptacle for commonplaced literary items by the previous owner. Authors whose writings were incorporated into this volume include Edgar Allen Poe, J. Austin Sperry, Caroline Orne, and Washington Irving. The clippings that covered the pastedown and portions of the first four leaves of the book were removed by a previous owner, revealing the title page of the legal text emblazoned with the coat of arms of William Penn and a portion of the prefatory matter. Because of the sheer amount of pasted in material, the full calf binding is broken with a failed leather repair along the spine. [There will be more information forthcoming about the conservation treatment and restoration of the underlaying text after the item has been digitized and treated by Pres/Con].