Beschreibung:

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, written in favour of the New Constitution, as agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787, volume II only, 1st edition, New-York: printed and sold by J. and A. M'Lean, 1788, vi + 384 pages, first issue, with Essay No. LXX mis-numbered LXXX, and with the spine lettered '2', final leaf with short-closed tear to fore-margin, worm track near foot of lower inner margin to the rear endpaper, also affecting the final 3 leaves, and touching a few letters (without loss of legibility), minor soiling to first and last leaf, original publisher's paper-backed grey-blue boards, 12mo (162 x 102 mm) Printing and the Mind of Man 234. Sabin 23979. Church 1230. Evans 21127. First edition of the second volume of Essays explaining the newly drafted Federal Constitution of the United States, and described as 'one of the new Nation's most important contributions to the theory of Government' (Printing and the Mind of Man). This second volume also contains the complete text of the Constitution, together with the resolutions of the Constitutional Convention. Alexander Hamilton (1739-1802), James Madison (1751-1836) and John Jay (1745-1829) collaborated in the present work to support the new plan of government by countering the objections of its detractors in a highly detailed and reasoned manner. All copies in original boards are extremely rare. The Garden copy of both volumes I and II was sold at Sotheby's New York, 9 November 1989, lot 164, and the Davidson copy was sold at Christie's New York, 8 December 2015, lot 243. Christie's New York sold a further non-matching set on 14 December 2016, lot 134. (1)