Individual census record · C073
Penn Museum Library · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Unresolved early ownership → University of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum Library, acquired 1966 (Eckley Brinton Coxe Fund)
RepositoryUniversity of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum Library
LocationPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Shelfmark / Call NumberMu893 R725 (Locked Case 893 R725) ↗
BindingOriginal brown decorated boards, retained but heavily worn and abraded on both covers. The volume was rebacked or rebound after 1863, evidenced by a fragment of period newspaper used as lining material between the text block and the case.
Edition EvidenceThe original brown decorated boards match a documented first-edition binding variant; boards of this kind are diagnostic of the 1858 first edition, distinct from the cloth-covered 1859 second edition.
Presentation / AssociationNo presentation inscription is recorded.
Ownership EvidenceAll bookplates and stamps present are the University of Pennsylvania's own; no evidence of an earlier private owner has been identified. A pencil note on the Preface page records that the volume was purchased in 1966 through the Eckley Brinton Coxe Fund. Loose inside the volume is a typescript excerpting Randolph G. Adams' 1924 essay on the Report's printing history, closing with a handwritten notation reading "R.P., 10/13/51." This copy does not contain the Alexander von Humboldt letter facsimile found in other copies.
Attribution StatusThe typescript’s ‘R.P.’ may refer to Raymond Pitcairn. The identity and whether the notation records ownership are unestablished.
Provenance Chain
Unresolved early ownership → University of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum Library, acquired 1966 (Eckley Brinton Coxe Fund)
Sources and Documentation
Correspondence with Penn Museum Library staff; University of Pennsylvania Libraries catalog record; and six copy-specific photographs.
People in This Copy
- Raymond Pitcairn
