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Set of Five Townshend Acts, contained in bound volumes for the years 1767 and 1768. First edition, first printing. Folio (11.5 inches). 7 George III (1767): 1 page (ads) + 894 pages (being the text of 59 Acts) + 18 pages (Table of the Statutes). 8 George III (1767-68): 543 pages (being the text of 33 Acts) + 14 pages (Table of the Statutes). Conjugate blank leaves (approximately 36 in number) are not present, having been removed at the time of binding. Printed in Black Letter font on laid watermarked paper. Each Act is prefaced by a General Title leaf with woodcut Royal coats of arms. Woodcut ornamental initials. Handsome contemporary polished calf binding, blind ruled boards, raised bands on spines with red calf lettering pieces. Bindings are robust, well preserved and entirely functional. Edges and corners a bit bumped, boards and spine lightly to moderately scarred. Neat contemporary marginal notations and check marks on several pages of an Act relating to highways in England, otherwise internally very clean. A rare find. When the much-hated Stamp Act of 1765 was repealed in May 1766, it was replaced by doctrine that initiated a period of increasingly authoritative Imperial command over the American colonies. The British government maintained its grip on control into 1767 and 1768 by passing five laws designed to: raise revenue from the American colonies to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, cover the expenses for administering the new Province of Quebec and the necessary military protection of colonies from Indian attacks along its western frontier, create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, punish the colony of New York for failing to comply with rules for billeting British troops, and to clearly re-establish the precedent that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The unpopular laws, which became known as the Townshend Acts (after Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer and architect of the legislation) consisted of: (1) the Commissioners of Customs Act, 1767 (7 George III, Chapter 41) which established a new Customs Board to enforce shipping regulations and more effectively collect taxes; (2) the Revenue Act, 1767 (7 George III, Chapter 46) which placed new duties on paper, paint, lead, glass and tea that were imported into the colonies from Great Britain, and reaffirmed broad powers for customs officials to search houses and businesses for smuggled goods; (3) the Indemnity Act, 1767 (7 George III, Chapter 56) which allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the American colonies at a reduced rate in an effort to undercut domestic smuggling; (4) the New York Restraining Act, 1767 (7 George III, Chapter 59) which forbade the New York Assembly and Governor of New York from passing legislation until they complied with the 1765 Quartering Act (which required them to provide board and room for British troops while stationed in the colony); and (5) the Vice Admiralty Court Act, 1768 (8 George III, Chapter 22) which created district Admiralty courts at Halifax, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston to help customs officials prosecute smugglers and other violators. (Please consult the image for a list of the precise titles of each Act.) The Townshend Acts were met with huge resistance in the colonies, and prompted the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually led to the Boston Massacre of 1770. Besides the five Townshend Acts, the volumes contain many other Acts of interest relating to trade, commerce, and military activities in the American colonies and elsewhere in the British Empire. Additional details and a full listing of all Acts contained in the volumes are available upon request. The volumes are heavy and will require additional shipping charges.
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