CITY OF NEW-YORK. SS. BE IT REMEMBERED THAT ON THE [TWENTY-SECOND] DAY OF [MARCH] IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX, BEFORE ME, RICHARD VARICK, ESQUIRE, MAYOR OF THE SAID CITY, PERSONALLY APPEARED [JOHN RUTHVEN] OF THE [THIRD] WARD OF THE SAID CITY, [TURNER] AND ACKNOWLEDGED [HIMSELF] TO BE INDEBTED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, IN THE SUM OF FIFTY POUNDS, LAWFUL MONEY OF THE SAID STATE, TO BE LEVIED OF [HIS] GOODS AND CHATTLES, LANDS AND TENEMENTS, FOR THE USE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SAID STATE, IF FAILURE SHALL BE MADE IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CONDITION FOLLOWING: ..

New York, 1796. 8-1/2" x 13" printed broadside, completed in manuscript [manuscript additions indicated by parentheses]. "584" written in blank left margin. Light tanning, old horizontal folds [repairs to several short closed tears at blank outer margin]. Very Good. Signed boldly by Mayor Varick at the end.

This rare imprint, specially designed for Varick's mayoralty during 1796, granted a tavern-keeping license to John Ruthven, an inhabitant of the Lower West Side's Third Ward and a turner by trade. "Whereas the said John Ruthven on the Day of the Date hereof hath obtained a Licence to keep an Inn or Tavern for retailing strong or spirituous Liquors in his Dwelling-House, in the said City, from the Date of the said Licence until the first Day of March next," promises, upon pain of forfeiting his recognizance of fifty dollars, that he shall not "keep a disorderly inn or Tavern, or suffer or permit any Cock-fighting, Gaming, or Playing with Cards or Dice, or keep any Billiard-Table, or other Gaming-Table, or Shuffle-Board, within the Inn or Tavern."
A revolutionary war soldier, Varick was a founder and original member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was military secretary to General Philip Schuyler, aide to Benedict Arnold at West Point, and George Washington's choice to organize the records of the Continental Army. After the War he was Recorder of New York City, Speaker of the Assembly, State Attorney General, and Federalist Mayor of New York for eleven consecutive terms, 1789-1801.
ESTC W19014 [1- Library of Congress]. Bristol B9635. Shipton & Mooney 47856. Not in Evans, or on OCLC or the online AAS site as of October 2021.