The Library of Stephen J. Farber

2 volumes, 8vo (210 x 121 mm). (Occasional marginal soiling, toning, some spotting throughout.) Modern blue paper boards. Provenance: Michael Zinman, American businessman and book collector (ownership bookplates).

ONE OF THE EARLIEST APPEARANCES OF THE FIRST SIX LETTERS FROM THE FEDERALIST.

The Federalist Papers were written in response to criticisms levied against the Constitution of the United States which had just been sent out for ratification by the states, the most prominent having appeared in the New York press in September and October of 1787 under the pseudonyms "Cato" and "Brutus." Alexander Hamilton thus recruited James Madison and John Jay to join him in writing a series of letters addressed directly to the people of New York which would offer a measured and extensive defense of the Constitution. In a nod to previous criticisms, Hamilton chose to sign each letter "Publius" in reference to Publius Valerius, one of the founders of Rome. Between October 1787 and May 1788 a total of 85 letters were published, with Hamilton writing 51, Madison writing 29, and Jay writing 5. The letters were well-received and were reprinted throughout the country before New York publishing firm J & A McLean printed them in two volumes as a collected work in March and May 1788, though its authors remained anonymous until the 1792 French edition which was followed in 1802 by a new American edition (though at Hamilton's request publisher George Hopkins who wrote which essay).

The American Museum was established by Philadelphia printer Matthew Carey courtesy of a $400 loan by the Marquis de Lafayette. It counted among its subscribers Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Belinda Sutton, Noah Webster, and John Trumbull, and holds the distinction of being one of the first profitable American magazines ever published. The appearance of The Federalist within its pages likely represent their first in a publication printed in Philadelphia - the birthplace of the United States of America.