BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 30 First Edition Of Hamilton’s Collected Works, Including The Third Edition Of The Federalist 38HAMILTON, Alexander. The Works of Alexander Hamilton. New York, 1810. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary mottled calf rebacked. $15,000 First edition of Hamilton’s collected works, including the third edition of the Federalist Papers. This printing of the Federalist, “in fact, Vols. II and III of Hamilton’s works,” was preceded only by the rare 1787 first edition, 1799 reissue, and 1802 second edition (Sabin 23982). “The Federalist is the most important work in political science that has ever been written, or is likely ever to be written, in the United States” (Rossiter, The Federalist Papers). “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” (PMM 234). Minor expert paper repair to preliminary leaves of volume II, mild embrowning and spotting to some signatures, as usual. A scarce early set of the writings of one of our most influential founding fathers, handsome in contemporary calf boards. “The Epitome Of Franklin’s Spirit” 39FRANKLIN, Benjamin. The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin. London, 1793. Octavo, contemporary full calf rebacked in period style. $12,000 First edition in English (expanded from the French) of Franklin’s renowned autobiography. “The most widely read of all American autobiographies… [it] holds the essence of the American way of life” (Grolier 21). “This account is the epitome of Franklin’s spirit. In it one sees him as a typical though great example of 18th-century enlightenment, a Yankee Puritan who could agree with Rousseau and Voltaire, and use the language of Defoe and Addison with a genial homely twang” (Hart, 142). “A year after Franklin’s death his autobiography was published in Paris in March of 1791… Considered to be the greatest autobiography produced in colonial America” (Archiving Early America). Title page and dedication with early ink owner names; one early ink annotation . Scattered light foxing. An excellent copy of this American classic, in contemporary boards.
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