First Single-Volume Edition and the Fourth Overall
Federalist. On the New Constitution. Written in 1788. My Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison. A New Edition, with the Names and Portraits of the Several Writers.
Philadelphia: Printed by Benjamin Warner, 1817.
contributor]. JAY, John, [contributor]. MADISON, James, [contributor]. The Federalist. On the New Constitution. Written in 1788. My Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison. A New Edition, with the Names and Portraits of the Several Writers. Philadelphia: Printed by Benjamin Warner, 1817.
Full Description:
HAMILTON, Alexander, [contributor]. JAY, John, [contributor]. MADISON, James, [contributor]. The Federalist. On the New Constitution. Written in 1788. My Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison. A New Edition, with the Names and Portraits of the Several Writers. Philadelphia: Printed by Benjamin Warner, 1817.
This is the first single-volume edition and the fourth overall. Octavo (8 1/4 x 5 inches; 210 x 125 mm). vi, 7-477, [1, blank] pp. Complete with full-page engraved portraits of Hamilton, Madison and Jay, with tissue guards. According to Sabin "The portraits are from the same plates as the New York edition of 1810, and the name of the printer omitted."
Contemporary full calf. Red morocco spine label., tooled and lettered in gilt. Spine ruled in gilt. Boards rubbed. Corners bumped. Some splitting to top of hinges. Head of spine chipped. Previous owner's bookplate on front pastedown. Old ink signatures on front endpapers. Old manuscript notes on rear endpapers. Some general toning and foxing. A few instances of dampstaining. Overall very good.
"Most famous and influential American political work. Written in collaboration with Jay and Madison" (Howes, H-114).
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...The first number of The Federalist appeared on 27 October 1787 in The Independent Journal, or The General Advertiser and newspaper publication continued in this and three other papers, The New York Packet, The Daily Advertiser, and The New York Journal and Daily Patriotic Register, through number 77, 2 April 1788. The first thirty-six essays were published in book form on 22 March 1788 by J. and A. McLean of New York and a second volume containing essays 37-85 followed on 28 May. Thus numbers 78-85 were published in book form before they appeared in the popular press” (Printing and the Mind of Man).
Howes. Streeter. Sabin 23983.
HBS 69452.
$3,500.
Price: $3,500.00
Item #69452