Edited by H. R. McILWAINE, State Librarian Vol. XVIII JUNE, 1932 INTRODUCTION No. 2 This bibliography is supplementary to A Bibliography of Virginia, Part II, Containing the Titles of the Printed Official Documents of the Commonwealth, 1776-1916, by Earl G. Swem (Bulletin, Virginia State Library, Vol. 10), recording three series of sessional documents of the House of Delegates of Virginia which are omitted from that publication. By resolutions adopted March 18, 1847, (subsequently amended in certain details) the General Assembly changed the time for making the annual reports of State agencies and officials and prescribed certain provisions as to the printing of such reports, including the change "in octavo form." In further resolutions as to the printing and distribution of public documents, adopted December 7, 1848, it was provided "That it shall also be the duty of the public printer to print the journal of the house of delegates in octavo form, separating the journal from the documents in different volumes." Such documents had previously been appended to the Journal of the House of Delegates for each session and, since the session of 1829/30, had received sessional document numbers of the House of Delegates. Under the new policy, in addition to the issue of documents as separates, there was also a collected edition of numbered sessional documents in a separate bound volume or volumes, with special title-page: Governor's Message and Annual Reports of the Public Officers of the State, and of the Boards of Directors, Visitors, Superintendents, and Other Agents of Public Institutions or Interests of Virginia (slight variations, 1847-1859). The contents of these valumes, however, were not confined to the annual reports of such agencies but included also any other matter which the House of Delegates ordered to be printed as its documents. In 1861, the title was changed to Message from the Governor of Virginia and Accompanying Documents. These documents, embracing the regular reports of State agencies, continued, however, until after the Civil War, to receive sessional document numbers authorized by the House of Delegates. No such change was made in the issue of Senate documents. These continued to be published with Senate sessional document numbers and usually the complete series for each session was appended to the Journal, forming one volume. During the period January, 1861, to March, 1865, there were eight sessions of the General Assembly of the regular government at Richmond, six being "extra," "called," or "adjourned" sessions. At each of these sessions, the House of Delegates, as disclosed by its Journal or by other records, authorized the printing of documents bearing its sessional series numbers. Of these series of documents all except those of the three sessions recorded herein have been accounted for more or less completely in A Bibliography of Virginia, Part II, which attempts to give, within its limits and field, a complete record of Virginia State publications, either by exact title where possible, or by supplied title where the document or definite record was not available. The omission was doubtless due to the rarity of these documents, there being no copies in the State Library when that work was compiled, although there was ample evidence in various sources of their publication. Fires, wars, removals of seat of government, official neglect and other vicissitudes of fortune have exacted a heavy toll from the records of Virginia, operating sometimes to destroy even the evidence of publication. As might be supposed, the Civil War was productive of many and great documentary losses but most State publications of that period are not very rare. Even the documents of the House of Delegates and Senate for the session December 7, 1864, to March 15, 1865, which were pretty generally lost in the fire and destruction following the fall of Richmond in April, 1865, are largely accounted for by surviving copies or records of printing. The Journal of the House of Delegates for this session is represented by an incomplete copy in the Boston Athenaeum; the Journal of the Senate, formerly supposed to have been completely destroyed, is represented by one extant copy, which was the personal copy of James E. Goode, Senate printer, and which was in the collection of R. A. Brock, of Richmond, Virginia, purchased by the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, in 1922. This volume contains also, as usual, the Senate documents of that session as an appendix. Photostat copies of these works have been acquired by the State Library. No particular reason has been found for the rarity of the three series of documents recorded herein, published (and presumably distributed) during years of relative security. Although certain separate documents of the House of Delegates for the extra session, January 7-April 4, 1861, have been recorded in various catalogs (but usually unidentified as to origin, session or series) only one copy of the collected edition of forty-seven numbered documents and index is known to the compiler, the copy in the Huntington Library, also acquired in the Brock collection. A photostat copy of this work has been obtained by the State Library and it is this facsimile which is cataloged in this bibliography. The other two series are not so rare. The seven numbered documents of the called session, September 15-October 6, 1862, are bound with the forty-five numbered documents of the adjourned session, January 7-March 31, 1863, forming one volume. The State Library acquired a copy of this work in January, 1930, among some documents transferred from the storage room of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Similar copies have been noted in several libraries having large collections of Confederate and Virginia docu ments. The State Library has been engaged for several years in the compilation of a bibliography of Virginia State publications to bring A Bibliography of Virginia, Part II up-to-date and to supply records of all documents omitted in that work which can be found. Since the publication of A Bibliography of Virginia, Part II, in 1917, a considerable number of unrecorded documents have come to light, and no doubt many scattered documents now unknown to the State Library will continue to appear. Locating copies of missing documents, or definite records of them, is, however, a slow procedure. Moreover, since careful, detailed bibliography is a time-consuming labor and the essential work of the library properly claims priority, the completion of the comprehensive bibliography referred to still lies probably several years in the future. Therefore, as the three series of documents cataloged herein are extensive, constitute an entirety, relate to a well-defined period, and are of much historical importance, it has been decided to record them, without further delay, as A Bibliography of Virginia, Part IV. The many historians and students of the Civil War period in Virginia will thus find earlier record of them where record would be expected, in a bibliography relating to the State of their origin. So far as the compiler knows, the titles of these three series of documents have never appeared as a whole in any publication, although they have been printed in part in several catalogs. In view of the rarity and importance of these documents, as well as the form in which they appear, the present publication attempts to be quite complete in cataloging details and biblio graphical annotations. As titles are often not indicative of the subjects and scope of the documents, contents notes and explanatory notes are freely included. A full index is provided at the end. For convenience of reference and identification, a serial number is assigned to the items, in continuation of Parts I-III of A Bibliography of Virginia. The compiler is greatly indebted to Mr. Willard O. Waters of the Huntington Library for early information as to the possession by that library of the unique copy of the collected edition of the documents of the extra session of 1861, as well as other rare Virginia publications. The State Library is also indebted to the authorities of the Huntington Library, through the kind office of Mr. Waters, for permission to secure a photostat copy of the work. Knowledge of the rare publications of the Confederate period in the Huntington Library has since been made available to all by Mr. Waters in his valuable compilation, Confederate Imprints in the Henry E. Huntington Library Unrecorded in Previously Published Bibliographies of Such Material (Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vol. XXIII, Part I, 1929, p. 18-109). WILMER L. HALL, Assistant State Librarian. Message of the governor of Virginia, and accompanying documents. Richmond, William F. Ritchie, public printer, 1861. 22677 2 v. (facsim.: 475 1.) 231⁄2 x 361⁄2 cm. ([Virginia. General assembly, Jan. 7-April 4, 1861. House of delegates] Doc. no. I [-XLVII]) Photostat copy (negative) from original in the Henry E. Huntington library, San Marino, Calif. Most leaves of the facsimile represent two opposite pages of the original (a verso and the opposite recto) Binder's title: Documents, House of delegates, extra session, Jan. 7-Apr. 4, 1861. Collation and size of original (as represented by facsimile): [902] p. incl. tables. 8 diagrs. 22 cm. Each original document (as represented by facsimile) has special t.-p. and separate pagination, and was also apparently issued separately. Contents. Doc. no. I. Message of the governor of Virginia. . 22678 83 1. incl. tables, diagrs. Each leaf except four represents two opposite pages of the original, eight_diagrams not included in paging occurring between p. 16 and 17. Collation of original (as represented by facsimile): lv, 101 p. incl. tables. 8 diagrs. Message dated: Richmond, Jan. 7, 1861. John Letcher, governor. "Appendix to the governor's message. 1861" (101 p.) has separate t.-p. Message, without appendix, found also appended to Journal of the House of delegates of the state of Virginia, for the extra session, 1861. Richmond, 1861; and text published also in Journal of the Senate of the commonwealth of Virginia [Jan. 7-Apr. 4, 1861]. extra session. Richmond, 1861. p. 9-49. Message (p. iii-lv) relates to "federal relations," the report of the auditor of public accounts, discontinuing the issuing of land patents, the claim of John M. Seely for painting done on certain buildings in the Capitol square, boundary lines of the state, the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company, quarters for the Court of appeals, resolution relating to extra pay for William Osborne and Richard Matthews, the Penitentiary, the various asylums, the Virginia military institute, the University of Virginia and a marble statue of Thomas Jefferson to be placed there, the militia, the public guard, the armory, claim of state against Selden, Withers & co., communications from executives of Texas and Kentucky, the James River and Kanawha company, public printing, jails, public buildings, state finances and debt, and banks and banking. Appendix: State arms and armory.—State action on federal relations [communications from the governors of Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky]-Claims: Attorney general's report against Selden, Withers & co. Attorney general's report relative to the affairs of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company. Statement by the governor of the claim of J. M. Seely [in regard to painting, etc., done on several buildings in the Capitol square]-Petitions: Petition of the officers of the |