  Illinois' first printing took place at Kaskaskia, the no longer existent Territorial capital. In 1814 Governor Ninian Edwards induced the Kentucky printer Matthew Duncan to settle there, and probably in May of that year Duncan founded a weekly newspaper, The Illinois Herald. The earliest Illinois imprint in the Library of Congress, listed as number 4 in Cecil K. Byrd's definitive bibliography, is Laws of the Territory of Illinois, Revised and Digested under the Authority of the Legislature. By Nathaniel Pope, published by Duncan in two volumes dated June 2 and July 4, 1815. Nathaniel Pope (1784-1850), who prepared this earliest digest of Illinois statutes, went to Kaskaskia upon being appointed secretary of the newly authorized Illinois Territory and did important organizational work there in the spring of 1809 before Governor Edwards' arrival. On December 24, 1814, the legislature decreed that Pope should receive $300 "for revising the laws of this Territory making an index to the same, and superintending the printing thereof." Laws of the Territory of Illinois, Revised and Digested under the Authority of the Legislature. By Nathaniel Pope (Laws of the Territory of Illinois, Revised and Digested under the Authority of the Legislature. By Nathaniel Pope) Even though it paid him for his labor and "The first thing that anyone will notice who opens this volume is that Pope began the practice of topical-alphabetical arrangement to which the lawyers of Illinois have now been accustomed for more than a hundred years. At the time of its appearance the work's importance was increased by the fact that it collected, so far as deemed consistent and still in force, the laws of 1812, 1813, and 1814. These enactments—though presumably all accessible in manuscript, for a time, at the county seats, and in many newspapers—had not all appeared in book form; nor did they so appear until fifteen years ago [i. e., in 1920-21]." The Library of Congress set of two rebound volumes is seriously imperfect, with numerous missing leaves replaced in facsimile. The volumes were purchased in June 1902 from the Statute Law Book Company in Washington together with a volume of Illinois session laws of 1817-18 for a combined price of $225. |
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