Alexander Ramsey, ca. 1850; credit: Minnesota Historical Society

This is the first book printed in what is present day Minneapolis, a "Minnesota incunable." Robert Rulon-Miller, from whom we purchased this piece, notes that the same text was printed in St. Paul by James Goodhue at about the same time. Two quotes from Ramsey's message illustrate the interest and the research value of this book:

"Saint Paul, occupying a site which but three years ago was an uninhabited waste, its population of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, its commercial activity, its numerous public edifices, and private dwelling-houses of superior construction, is rapidly pressing forward to become the great Capital of the Northwest."

"To the people of Minnesota, the most interesting political event that has occurred since the organization of the Territory, is the extinction ... of the Sioux and Chippewa title to immense tracts of land....These treaties bridge over the wide chasm, which could alone obstruct the advance of Minnesota to the lofty destination evidently reserved for her."