Account Book, New York City, 1795-1798. [xxiii], 326 pp. Quarto - 1798

1798. Late Eighteenth-Century Account Book of a Notable New York Attorney and Private Secretary to American Founder John Jay [Manuscript]. Remsen, John Henry [1772-1798]. [Account Book]. New York City, 1795-1798. [xxiii], 326 pp. With a thumb-tabbed index of cases. Quarto (9-1/2" x 7-1/2"). Reverse calf, blind fillets and panels to boards, rebacked retaining parts of existing spine, raised bands, blind ornaments and lettering piece (reading "Register") to spine, marbled endpapers. Moderate rubbing with wear to extremities, a few stains and slash marks to boards, hinges cracked, front free endpaper and preliminary leaves loose, one leaf and parts of two others removed. Moderate toning to interior, text in neat hand to rectos and versos of most leaves, a few early manuscript jottings to front endleaf, small library stamp and marks to its verso. $6,500. * Remsen was a high-profile New York lawyer and notary public who served as private secretary to John Jay, New York governor and the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. This volume records work done and fees charged by Remsen on hundreds of cases in the Mayor's Court, the Federal District Court, and the New York Supreme Court. Most of these cases were initiated from September 1795 to September 1796. Among the more noteworthy cases, Remsen represented the Bank of the United States in a protracted suit against Loyalist publisher James Rivington (pp. 169 and 170). He also represented a group led by John Jay and George Clinton, Jay's predecessor as governor. Despite his prominence, little of Remsen's legal record has survived. The New York Public Library holds a group of his ledgers dating from 1795-1798. We located other Remsen account books, both shorter than ours, at Boston College Law School (from 1793-1798) and the Winterthur Library (from 1793-1796).