AN UNCUT COPY OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS.
HAMILTON, ALEXANDER; JAMES MADISON and JOHN JAY. The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. New York: Printed and Sold by J. and M. M'Lean, 1788.
8vo (Vol. 1: 175 x 110 mm; vol. II: 186 x 110 mm, uncut). Minor soiling, with light foxing and minor marginal staining to end of volume 2. Modern paper-backed light grey paper boards.

FIRST EDITION OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, UNCUT IN MODERN BOARDS. 'The most thorough and brilliant explication of the Federal Constitution (or any other constitution) ever written' (Smith, The Constitution: A Documentary and Narrative History, pp 263-264).

Written between October 1787 and May 1788 in order to convince New York to ratify the newly created Constitution, 'The Federalist Papers' consist of 85 essays written anonymously by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, describing the concepts therein, 77 of which were published in New York newspapers under the name Publius. Hamilton collected and edited the essays, adding the 8 unpublished articles, and contracted with the M'Lean brothers to publish 500 copies. In March 1788 the first volume appeared with the first 36 essays, followed two months later by volume two with the final 49 essays, including 8 appearing for the first time in print, followed by the complete text of the new Constitution and the resolutions of the Constitutional Convention. The resulting document was characterized by Thomas Jefferson in a November 1788 letter to Madison as 'the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written.'

'The 85 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).