Memoirs Of A life, Chiefly Passed In Pennsylvania within the last Sixty Years; With Occasional Remarks Upon General Occurences, Character and Spirit of That Eventful Period

Harrisburgh: John Wyeth, 1811. First edition. Leather_bound. Good. First edition. Original full calf with spine lined in gilt and red leather title label reading "Memoirs". 378 pp. plus errata left at rear. Well worn, front board reattached and lacking any front endpapers or blanks. On the title page along the top edge is a bold ownership signature and date of 1811; in the space between the main and sub titles is a handwritten "Alexander Graydon, Esq." --wishful thinking would say it's Graydon's own handwriting but we have no evidence of that being the case. Alexander Graydon (1752-1818) was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania on the shores of the Delaware River, the son of a Philadelphia merchant and lawyer. Upon his father's death, the family removed to Philadelphia. His memoirs included stories of this time as well as his years at the Academy of Philadlephia, where he read law. He was a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, taking part in Washington's retreat from Long Island in 1776 as well as in the battle of Harlem Heights when he was taken prisoner by the British. Upon his parole, he went to Reading, Pennsyvania to resume his legal career. He was a staunch Federalist, supporting ratifiction of the Constitution and later was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. He lived in Harrisburg, where this book was printed, for some 30 years.