[Burke, Edmund]. Broken run of The Annual Register or a View of the History, Politics and Literature for the Years 1758-75, 1777-78, 1780-91, 1793, 1798-99, 1801. Various publishers, principally J Dodsley, varying dates and editions. 8vo (37 vols). Uniformly sometime bound in half calf over marbled boards (save 2 vols.); provenance: almost all volumes from the library of John Waldie (engraved armorial bookplate to upper pastedowns). (Duplicate 1798). This publication is a highly important historical source with a timeline of the year and extracts from a miscellany of primary. Events recorded included accounts of Bligh's escape from the Bounty (1790), the suffering of the Black Hole of Calcutta (1758) and the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). The Register was a vital source of information to its readers on the major political upheavals of the time such as the French Revolution, the French and Indian war and most significantly the birth of the new country of America. Possibly the most significant volume in the run is that for 1787 which included an early UK printing of the full text of the new Constitution of the United States, along with the text of Washington's transmittal letter from the Convention to Congress. This volume was printed in 1789 - the year in which Washington became President and the first Congress convened. The same volume has a prescient assessment of the discontent in France which led to the first convocation of the Estates-General called by Louis XVI in 1788. It argues that the support offered by France to the Revolutionary government in America - and the vision of new freedoms enjoyed there - was likely to break the despotic monarchy. Completing the American interest is a letter from Benjamin Franklin concerning the remedy for smoking chimneys and an excerpt from Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (his only published book). It focuses on the speech of Chief Logan after a war with the Virginians which helped construct the idea of the noble savage. This volume forms part of a trilogy of the War of Independence with 1781 and 1783. 1781 features detailed accounts of the Battles of Guildford Court House and Yorktown, and the surrender of Cornwallis as well as the story of Benedict Arnold and the hanging of his co-conspirator Major Andre. 1783 concentrated on the end of the War and the peace negotiations which followed (negotiations which had been pushed for by Burke and his allies in the House). It printed the text of the peace treaty, George III's 1782 speech (in which he notes his offer to ''declare them free and independent states'') and the contract between America and the French King to repay 18 million livres of loans. Finally it printed Washington's letter resigning from the Continental Army which had far-reaching influence on American constitutional history. Of further interest is the famous map volume, 1763, which featured four maps by Thomas Kitchens, including one showing the American Colonies at the end of the French and Indian War and on the eve of Independence. Also 1774, which contains a long description of the boarding of tea ships in Boston harbour by men 'under the disguise of Mohawk Indians', the infamous Tea Party, and the events which led to the raid. Together with the other volumes during this period the Annual Register is a very important contemporary source for early American history. According to Gephart many leading historians of the American Revolutionary period, including David Ramsay, James Murray, and William Gordon ''borrowed heavily from the Annual Register'' (Gephart 1016, 2565). Sabin 1614