Wow! I’ve bought and sold a number of 19th century penmanship and maths notebooks, including a couple British ones from the early 1800s, but never one from the 18th century, let alone an American one, and this one feels quite historically significant. This and another I am listed separately were kept by an Alijah Crane (Jr.) of Boston— this one begun on November 23, 1789 maintained during the period when the Bill of Rights was ratified and last of the 13 original colonies, Rhode Island, officially joined the “United States”.

On the cover is a Spencerian drawing of an eagle (the national bird of the United States since 1782) with branch in its mouth.  Inside, many of the phrases filling the pages of this notebook feel both extremely significant relative to the moment in American history at which they were written, and quite poignant now. In addition to penmanship practice repeating phases such as "On present time depends our fate and "Drunkards and sits often tipple their pots" (my personal favorite), and "Abandon Evil Company" (in wonderful gothic lettering) are pages of individual letters and numbers and, most notable, several verses, perhaps composed by Crane himself? , including:

Liberty: 

Fair Liberty Goddess of our Land

And peaceful blessings all around her stand

Darkness and bigotry before her lie

And truth and virtue grow beneath her eye

From righteous Lawes [sic] o’er choicest blessings come

Honour abroad and liberty at home. 

Some research reveals that Abijah Crane Jr. (August 24, 1777-Mar. 1, 1854) was the son of Abijah Crane 1741-1817), who served a revolutionary soldier of MA and was a member of the Boston Tea Party. He was a house wright and had a carpentry shop with John Crane, his half-brother. Abijah Jr. married twice and had two children, including Horatio (October 26, 1803 / February 20, 1894) who himself kept two notebooks I’ll also be listing. 

7 1/8” x 8 7/8”. 12 pages (folio) filled front and back plus paper cover. Very good overall condition, clean with writing strong and clear. Some staining and wear to the cover, which shows at tear at the spin at the very bottom.