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Extremely rare, historically significant book: The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, Agreed Upon By the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. First edition in two volumes. New York: Printed and Sold by J. and A. McLean, 1788. Hardcover bound in contemporary marbled boards, expertly rebacked and recornered in period-style speckled calf, with elaborately gilt-decorated spines and red and black morocco labels. Pagination: vi, 227; vi, 384.
An extraordinarily rare and highly important first edition of The Federalist, the landmark collection of 85 essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay written under the shared pseudonym “Publius” in support of ratification of the United States Constitution. One of the foundational texts of American political thought, The Federalist exerted an immediate influence on the Constitution’s adoption and remains the most authoritative contemporary exposition of its principles.
Conceived by Hamilton as an urgent response to opposition to the proposed Constitution, the essays first appeared in New York newspapers beginning in October 1787. Hamilton enlisted John Jay and James Madison in the effort, with Hamilton ultimately contributing the majority of the essays. Their immediate purpose was practical and political: to persuade the citizens of New York to ratify the Constitution drafted at Philadelphia. Their enduring achievement, however, was far greater.
As Printing and the Mind of Man observes, although the essays “were designed as political propaganda, not as a treatise of political philosophy,” The Federalist nevertheless survives as “one of the new nation’s most important contributions to the theory of government” (PMM 234).
Its influence was profound from the outset. E. Dwight Church notes that the work “exerted a powerful influence in procuring the adoption of the Federal Constitution, not only in New York but in the other states,” further praising it as a remarkably concise and lucid explanation of “the true principles of a republican form of government” (Church 1230). The Grolier Club likewise recognized The Federalist as the most authoritative early interpretation of the Constitution, observing that “as a commentary and exposition of the Constitution, the influence of the Federalist has been profound” (One Hundred Influential American Books, 56). It has also been described as “the most thorough and brilliant explication of the Federal Constitution (or any other constitution) ever written” (The Constitution, a Documentary and Narrative History by Page Smith, 263–264).
The first collected edition was issued by New York printers J. and A. McLean in two volumes in 1788, while the ratification debate was still underway. It contains the complete series of 85 essays, including several that had not yet appeared in newspaper form, giving this edition exceptional historical importance as the first appearance of The Federalist as a unified work.
Bibliographical references: Sabin 23979; Howes H114; Evans 21127; Streeter II:1049; PMM 234; Church 1230; Grolier 100 American 56.
In very good to fine condition, with a small, neat repair to the lower outer margin of leaf G3 (pages 77–78) in Volume I affecting a few words; a remarkably attractive set. Housed in a custom-made morocco clamshell case.
An exceptional example of one of the greatest books in American history—an original 1788 first edition of The Federalist, the intellectual cornerstone of the United States Constitution and one of the most consequential works ever printed in America.
