MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF JOSIAH QUINCY JUN. of Massachusetts: by His Son

Boston: Cummings, Hilliard, & Company, 1825. First edition. Tall 8vo, in fine full antique tree calf, the spine with bands ruled in gilt separating the compartments and with a red morocco label trimmed with gilt chains and lettered in gilt. viii, 498 pp. A fine and handsome copy, the text extremely fresh and clean with no foxing or spotting, occasional pencil markings in a neat at the outside margins emendating certain paragraphs, the binding firm and strong and attractive with only light evidence of use or age. FIRST EDITION OF THE MEMOIR OF AMERICAN PATRIOT AND SON OF LIBERTY. JOSIAH QUINCY JUN. was also second in a long line of notable and important Bostonians to bear the name. In the years leading up to the American Revolution Josiah Quincy Jun. was a principal spokesman for the Sons of Liberty and served as John Adams' co-counsel during the trials of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. A gifted orator, in 1766 he delivered an impassioned address in English "on liberty," or as others would recall it, on the meaning of being "a patriot," at Harvard's commencement upon receiving his Masters Degree. The speech caught the attention of Boston's patriot leadership, and by 1767, Quincy was contributing regularly to Samuel Adams' Boston Gazette, initially writing under the name "Hyperion". His essays were charged with colourful rhetoric denouncing British oppression.
Josiah Jun.'s son, the author of this memoir, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mayor of Boston, and President of Harvard University from 1829-1845. The historic Quincy Market in downtown Boston is named in his honour. His son, Josiah IV, would also serve as Mayor of Boston. The Quincy political dynasty would continue nearly to the twentieth century, as another Quincy, Josiah VI would serve as Mayor of Boston from 1895 to 1899.