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William Penn’s Copy of Privy Council Decision:
Delaware Belongs to Him, not to Lord Baltimore
WILLIAM PENN,
Autograph Docket on Manuscript Document. [London, England], January 27, 1709 (document reads “1708,” but is actually 1709, because, before 1752, Britain and its colonies held to the old Julian calendar with March 25 as the first day of the calendar year). 2 pp., 7⅝ x 12 in.
“Upon reading this day at the Board the Humble petition of Wm. Penn Esqr … Her Maty. in Councill taking the same into her consideration is Graciously pleased, to ordr accordingly, that the sd petition of the Lord Baltimore, Be, and it is hereby Dismissed”
Item #21622, $50,000
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“Oaths & Declarations”: William Penn, Jr. and Quakers
Sign Separate Declaration to Sit on Pennsylvania Council with Non-Quakers
WILLIAM PENN, JR,
Manuscript Document Signed. N.p. [likely Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], n.d. [ca. February-September 1704]. 2 pp., on bifolium sheet. 320 x 198 mm. One page docketed on verso, “Oaths & Declarations / of Members of Council / Stenton.”
Document signed by Pennsylvania’s political leaders during a stormy period in the province’s history, which saw chronic tensions between Quakers and non-Quakers, between the “lower counties” of Delaware and the rest of the province, and between the proprietor (William Penn) and the Assembly. All the same, the separate signatures on two sheets of paper attests to the landmark commitment of Penn to religious tolerance.
Item #21923, $18,000
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William Penn Wanted For Treason
[WILLIAM PENN],
Newspaper. The London Gazette, February 9, 1690, 2 pp., 6¼ x 11¼ in.
Pennsylvania founder William Penn supported James II during the Glorious Revolution, James’s attempt to regain the English throne. When William and Mary ascended the throne, Penn was suspected of treason.
Item #30000.54, $900
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“THE GREATEST OF EARLY AMERICAN MAPS”
THOMAS HOLME,
[Across the Top]: A Map of the Improved Part of the Province of Pennsilvania in America. Begun by Wil: Penn Proprietary and Governour thereof Anno 1681. [Decorative cartouche to right]: A Map of the Province of Pennsilvania. Containing the three Countyes of Chester, Philadelphia, & Bucks, as far as yet Surveyed and Laid out….
The “greatest of early American maps … a masterpiece” (Corcoran).
“This monumental work is without question the finest printed cartographic document relating to North America to be published to date.” (Burden). No other English American colony was mapped in the seventeenth century on such a large scale, and in such amazing detail.
Item #22133, PRICE ON REQUEST
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The Acting Governor of New York
Thanks William Penn for a Gift
ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS,
Autograph Letter Signed to Governor William Penn. New York, May 1, 1683
“As the loadstone attracts Iron, so ought acknowledgemts to pursue faviours … [I] dare not presume any further having soe lately recd soe great a marke of your bounty….”
Deputy Governor Anthony Brockholls of New York extends a cordial note to Governor William Penn in the midst of continuing deliberations between Penn and Lord Baltimore over the southern boundary of Pennsylvania and possession of Delaware.
Item #21618, $40,000
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59 Western Pennsylvania Settlers Petition the Governor to Supplement Frontier Defense
[PENNSYLVANIA],
“To his Excellency Thomas Mifflin Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. The petition of a Number of the Inhabitants on the Fronteers of Westmoreland County Humbly Sheweth…” Folio manuscript broadside, docketed on verso, entirely handwritten in ink, signed by 58 petitioners (mostly individually, though it appears that a few small groups may have one signer writing his own name and then that of a couple additional people who perhaps could not sign on their own), seeking the commission of three officers, Archibald McGuire, George Shrum and Matthew Dill, of an additional company for the protection of the Westmoreland County frontier. Ca. 1790-91.
This petition, signed by 58 Scotch-Irish settlers of the western frontier of Pennsylvania, must have been appreciated by Governor Mifflin, as it showed the settlers’ lack of confidence in the ability of the federal government to protect the frontier. Following the defeat of Harmar’s expedition in 1790, President Washington appointed Arthur St. Clair, Mifflin’s political rival and immediate predecessor, to build a string of forts along the western frontier. According to the petitioners, the positioning of these forts left much to be desired.
Item #25609, $5,500
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