The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Volume LIX [59]. For the Year MDCCLXXXIX [1789]. Part the First. London: Printed by John Nichols, for David Henry, 1789. Six monthly issues (Jan.-June). Thick 8vo in early quarter calf and marbled boards; iv + 580 + [18] pp.; with 21 copper-engraved plates, one of which is folding.

With numerous articles related to the MADNESS OF KING GEORGE III, including extensive monthly Minutes of the Proceedings of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, on Settling the Regency, with the State of His Majesty's Indisposition. Several issues also include Minutes of His Majesty's Indisposition, with daily reports on the king's condition ("Dec. 30. Not a good night, but calm this morning… Jan. 19. Calm before noon yesterday; remarkably composed the rest of the day; slept seven hours; but as usual this morning…" etc.). Related articles include: Report of the Physicians on the King's Illness; Original Letter from Mr. Barret on the Cure of Madness; Various Methods successfully used in curing Insanity; Thanksgiving for the King's Recovery; etc.

Also present is a monthly collection of Remarkable Intelligence from America, &c., including an account of the festivities attending the INAUGURATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON (himself a subscriber to the Gentleman's Magazine): "Philadelphia, April 22. Monday last… the President Elect of the United States arrived in this city about one o'clock… His Excellency rode on horseback in front of the procession… The bells were rung through the day and night… The joy of the whole city upon this august spectacle cannot easily be described. Every countenance seemed to say, 'Long, long live George Washington, the Father of the People!…").

Other notable features:

• Dr. Franklin's Address to the United States of America (with the complete text of the remarks of "the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin on the disaffection that has prevailed toward the new system of government introduced in that country").
• An Original Letter from Dr. Franklin to John Alleyne, Esq. (with his "Opinion of early Marriages").
• On Slavery and the Slave Trade (signed "Philo-Africanus"); Extracts from a Sermon at Bristol on the Slave Trade; Humanity of the Planters in Jamaica vindicated; etc.
• A brief Statement of the Popish Mission to Japan.
• Lord Cornwallis's Reform of the Army in India.
• Calculus of the ensuing Transit of Venus (with a woodcut diagram).
• Defence of Dr. Crawford's Treatise on Animal Heat.
• Cruelty toward Animals, particularly Horses, reprobated (signed "Humanus").
• Strictures, by Miss [Anna] Seward, on a Preface by Mr. Weston (continued over multiple issues).
• Analysis of a Tragedy by a self-taught Bard, with excerpts (re. "a tragedy of five acts called Alfred" written by "a mechanic of contracted education").
• Particular Description of a Barrow, called the "Fairy Toote," lately explored (with a plate).
• Strictures on Theatrical Improprieties, with useful Hints.
• A full-page letter from the Society for the Encouragement of Servants, in which is proposed the printing of a standardized "character," or letter of reference, in which the employer would answer such questions as, "Was [blank] honest?… Sober, or in what degree otherwise?… Free from habits of swearing and indecencies?…" etc.
• PLATES depicting: Voltaire's House at Ferney; Revolution House at Whittington (folding); painted tiles from the Palace of the Dukes of Normandy (2 plates); Chapel at St. Michael Aldgate, London; Church of St. Peter-le-Poor, London (2 plates); Singular Case of the Papillae of a Woman; View from Ramsgate of the Coast of France during a haze or mist; etc.
• Plus parliamentary debates, poetry, monthly Prices of Stocks and Goods, Accounts of Theatrical Performances, Reviews and Extracts of Books recently published, Obituaries, Bills of Mortality, lists of Bankrupts and Promotions; and much, much more.

Rubbing and bumping to the boards, spine dried and flaking, hinges cracked but boards are holding; intermittent mild browning and offsetting to the contents, occasional small spots; bound without one plate (design for a monument to Gen. Wolfe), else complete and generally quite clean and sound. Front paste-down with the engraved armorial bookplate of J. Comyns, Wood [Devon].

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