FABS Handpress Zoom: Douglas Brown on Isaiah Thomas

Sponsored by FABS

In the Cover of Darkness: Three Works from the Press of Isaiah Thomas.

This year represents the 250th Anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  While our nation celebrates that momentous event, few will be celebrating another significant event that happened three days earlier.  On April 16, 1775, Revolutionary patriot and printer Isaiah Thomas snuck his printing press out of Boston and into Worcester in the middle of the night to avoid British confiscation.  It remains there to this day.  Thomas would later go on to found the American Antiquarian Society, which remains in Worcester today, and is one of our nation’s most cherished treasures.  Early Americana Collector (and AAS Councillor) Doug Brown will share three fascinating items from his collection, all relating to Thomas, as a way to tell this important story.   These items include an issue of Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy from 1774, a first edition of his book, The History of Printing in America,inscribed to a co-founder of AAS, and Thomas’s book plate, which was designed by Paul Revere.  These items will also be part of a new member Grolier Club exhibit later this Spring.

Douglas S. Brown is a seasoned executive with over thirty-five years of senior leadership experience in law, medicine and government. He currently is a partner at Manatt Health, a multidisciplinary, integrated professional services firm. Doug collects antiquarian books and manuscripts of early America, and his entry Fighting for The Crown Jewel: America, 1735-1775, was selected as the winner of the 2024 Ticknor Society Book Collecting Prize. He is a member of the Grolier Club and the American Antiquarian Society, and currently serves on the AAS Council.

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