Printed and Manuscript Americana

Paris: Librairie de Charles Gosselin, 1835. In two volumes. First edition, part one only (of an eventual two). 8vo. (iv), xxiv, 365, (2); (iv), 455, (4) pp., including half-titles. Illustrated with one hand-colored folding lithographic map. Quarter 19th-century brown morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, stamped in blind and in gilt, joints rubbed; marbled edges; matching marbled endpapers; sheets lightly toned; scattered very light spotting to text; in quarter brown morocco slip case and chemise. Howes T-278; Sabin 96060

A fine copy of the first edition of the rare first part of Alex de Tocqueville's famous and classic Democracy in America.

From the time of its first publication, Democracy in America has enjoyed the reputation of being the most acute and perceptive discussion of the political and social life of the United States ever published. This first part was published in an edition of less than 500 copies in January 1835, and was an instant success and went through numerous editions.

The origins of the book lie in the observations Alexis de Tocqueville made during a nine-month tour of the United States starting in the spring of 1831. He was accompanied by his friend and fellow student, Gustave de Beaumont, and their original goal was to study the penal system of the United States. After visiting prisons in the East, they undertook a tour of the South as far as New Orleans, ascended the Mississippi, visited the Great Lakes and Canada, and returned via New York. After writing their report on prisons, Tocqueville worked on the first part of Democracy in America in 1833-1834, publishing it in Paris in 1835 to great acclaim.

The second part, published five years later in 1840, was equally as successful, with both parts remaining in print to this day.