First edition of “one of the most important texts in political literature” (Printing and the Mind of Man 358 note). Four small octavo volumes. [4], xxiv, 367, [1, blank]; [4], 459, [1, blank]; [4], v, [3], 333, [1, blank]; [4], 363, [1, blank] pp. Hand-colored folding lithographed map by Benard after Tocqueville in Volume I.

Uniformly bound by Devauchelle in modern antique-style quarter black calf over marbled boards. Smooth spines ruled and decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments with red and olive green calf gilt lettering labels, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges. Expertly cleaned. A wonderful copy.

One of the most penetrating political and social analyses of the United States ever written, De la démocratie en Amérique is based on Tocqueville’s travels through America in 1831 and 1832 in company with Gustave Auguste de Beaumont. Charged by the French government to study the prison system of the United States, the two officials made a sweeping tour of the west and south after completing their penal studies in the east, visiting Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

En Français dans le texte 253. Howes T278. Sabin 96060 and 96061.

HBS # 66474 $40,000