The first edition of Tocqueville, with an important association

TOCQUEVILLE, ALEXIS DE

Democracy in America. Translated by Henry Reeve, Esq. With an Original Preface and Notes by John C. Spencer. [together with] Democracy in America. Part the Second, the Social Influence of Democracy. New York: George Dearborn & Co., Adlard and Saunders, 1838 (volume I imprint) ; J. & H.G. Langley, 1840 (volume II imprint). First American editions of both volumes. Publisher's non-uniform purple-black and brown cloths respectively, the first volume with plain white, the second with yellow coated endpapers; housed in a leather-backed clamshell case. 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches (22 x 14 cm); xxx, 464 pp.; xx, 355, [1] pp. The first volume with the cloth binding neatly rebacked, retaining the original spine; the second volume with the spine a trifle faded, light wear to all covers. Scattered foxing, throughout, overall a rather good set. As the two parts were bound by different publishers in different years, they were not issued in uniform bindings. Signature of William Cabell Rives in pencil on the title of the second volume, his pencil notes throughout both volumes, with notes on the rear flyleaf of the first.

Translated by Henry Reeve from the French, the volumes bear prefaces by John Canfield Spencer, Secretary of War in the Tyler administration. Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, Comte de Tocqueville traveled in America in 1831 for nine months, and the first volume of his penetrating study of American democratic institutions appeared in 1835; the second was issued in 1840. It was well-received in both France and America, and it remains a classic work of political and social science. It has been called "at once the best book ever written on democracy and the best book ever written on America."

This is a significant copy in generally excellent condition, bearing as it does the notes of William Cabell Rives, the U.S. Congressman, Senator, and the author of the famous Madison biography. His importance “lies primarily in his long participation in American politics from the Jeffersonian Era through the Civil War. Educated by Jefferson and Madison, Rives carried on the spirit of 18th-century republicanism within a changing political culture” (ANB). Howes T278-9; Sabin 96064-5.
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