Beschreibung:

Title: Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies Author: Robert, Henry M[artyn] Place: Chicago Publisher: S.C. Griggs & Company Date: 1876 Description: 176 pp. 5¾x3¾, original cloth gilt-lettered and ruled in black, publisher's advertisements printed in red as endpapers. First Edition. Exceedingly rare copy of the first edition of Robert's Rules of Order, the standard of parliamentary procedure for business and civic organizations since it was first published in 1876. Robert was an engineering officer in the Army; he had been disheartened by the chaos that prevailed at American civic meetings due to different standards of debate from different parts of the country and of the world. Robert's Rules of Order was the antidote to this chaos, still much beloved and in use today. The first edition has a diamond-shaped device under the flourish in the gilt, has no number of copies on the title-page, and preserves the rule on p.19 that "A call for an adjournment, or for the question, by members in their seats, is not a motion..." It is speculated that Robert supplied the paper for this edition, but ran out of higher quality paper at the end of publication, as copies of the first edition have the preliminaries and various leaves towards the end printed on cheaper stock which has a tendency to yellow. In this copy pp. 1-8, 157-160, and 165-168 appear to be on this thinner paper. The initial print run was 4,000 copies, but relatively few survive as it was a handbook which saw much use. This copy with bookplate of William Hagerman and Carolyn Elliott Graves. See Stran Trouts's article "In 1876 you could Buy a Robert's First Edition for 75 Cents" in The National Parliamentarian, 4 Qtr, 1999. Lot Amendments Condition: Minor rubbing to spine and edges, lower corners just showing and top corners bumped, hinges cracked, bookplate covers publisher's ads on front pastedown; minor crease to front free endpaper and title; overall a very clean, attractive copy; near fine. Item number: 155187