Americana - 51 - Bauman Rare Books “It Is A Rising Not A Setting Sun”: First Edition Of Madison’s Massive Three-Volume Papers, 1840, With His Valuable Notes On The Secret Debates Of The 1787 Constitutional Convention 47. MADISON, James. The Papers of James Madison. Washington, 1840. Three volumes. Octavo, modern full brown calf gilt. $10000. First edition of the seminal collection of Madison’s influential writings, including his copy of Jefferson’s notes on the 1776 debates over the Declaration and Madison’s own invaluable record of the secret debates of the 1787 Constitutional Convention— “by far the fullest and most complete record of the debates themselves” (Smith, 91)—an exceptional three-volume work. “One of the nation’s greatest founders… James Madison worked best in conventions or congresses… [and] in secret” (Wills, Madison, 1-3). Published posthumously according to Madison’s wishes, this three-volume Papers of James Madison offers particular evidence of that often cloaked genius in his comprehensive notes on the “Debates of the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States… together with the Debates taken by him in the Congress of the Confederation in 1782, 1783 and 1787.” Also containing Madison’s copy of Jefferson’s notes on the 1776 debates on the Declaration (xxiv), this important work provides valued insight into America’s crucial Revolutionary years and the contributions of America’s fourth President—a man “so essential at so many points in the creation and conceptualization of the new republic that we necessarily perceive the product partly through his eyes” (Banning, 2). When the members of the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in May 1787, they held their deliberations in secret in order to encourage complete candor. Madison “was not only one of the most influential members of the convention but [his] painstaking notes provide the greater part of what we know about the actual discussions that took place in the convention” (Smith, 90). With index and manuscript facsimiles. Sabin 43716. Interior generally fresh with light scattered foxing.
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