Description
VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION OF THE FEDERALIST: “THE MOST FAMOUS AND INFLUENTIAL AMERICAN POLITICAL WORK”
(HAMILTON, Alexander; MADISON, James; JAY, John). The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, Agreed Upon By the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. New York: Printed and Sold by J. and A. McLean, 1788. Two volumes. 12mo, contemporary full tree calf; elaborately gilt-decorated spines, contemporary gilt leather labels, pp. vi, 227, vi, 384.
First edition of The Federalist, one of the rarest and most significant books in American political history, which “exerted a powerful influence in procuring the adoption of the Federal Constitution,” the complete two volumes in handsome contemporary tree calf.
“When Alexander Hamilton invited his fellow New Yorker John Jay and James Madison, a Virginian, to join him in writing the series of essays published as The Federalist, it was to meet the immediate need of convincing the reluctant New York State electorate of the necessity of ratifying the newly proposed Constitution of the United States. The eighty-five essays, under the pseudonym `Publius,’ were designed as political propaganda, not as a treatise of political philosophy. In spite of this, The Federalist survives as one of the new nation’s most important contributions to the theory of government” (Printing and the Mind of Man, 234). The Federalist “exerted a powerful influence in procuring the adoption of the Federal Constitution, not only in New York but in the other states. There is probably no work in so small a compass that contains so much valuable political information. The true principles of a republican form of government are here unfolded with great clearness and simplicity” (Church 1230). “A generation passed before it was recognized that these essays by the principal author of the Constitution and its brilliant advocate were the most authoritative interpretation of the Constitution as drafted by the Convention of 1787. As a commentary and exposition of the Constitution, the influence of the Federalist has been profound” (Grolier American 100, 56). Sabin 23979. Howes H114(c). Streeter II: 1049. Ford 17. Grolier American 100, 56.
Text fresh with only light scattered foxing, small closed margin tear to one leaf (VI:G5) without affecting text. An exceptional near-fine copy in rich contemporary tree calf.
