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John Adams |
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A Defence of the
Constitutions of Government of the United States of America.
1787. 3 Volumes, 1st. Edition
John Adams was in London serving as a
diplomat for his young country in 1787. He wrote and published Defence
of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America in
three volumes. The American edition was published the same year in New
York and Philadelphia. The work occurs in the middle of his career and
reflects the depth of thought that our founders engaged in while
building a new country. |
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Aristotle |
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Politics & Economics.
1496. 1st. Edition (complete) Photographs of this Latin edition. |
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Aristotle |
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Ethics. 1496.
1st. Edition (complete) Photographs of this Latin edition. |
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St. Augustine of Hippo |
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Citie of God. 1610.
1st. English Edition. |
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Confucius |
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The Morals of Confucius.
1691. 1st. English Edition.
Confucius lived during the Spring and
Autumn period (777 BC to 476 BC) of the Eastern or Later Zhou Dynasty
(770 BC - 256 BC). It was a time in China's history when the great
Zhou dynasty had broken down and the country was divided among rival
factions. |
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Constitutions |
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The Constitutions of
the Several Independent States of America; The Declaration of
Independence; The Articles of Confederation Between the Said States; The
Treaties Between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of
America. 1781. 1st. Edition. |
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Corn Laws |
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The Battle for Native
Industry. The Debate upon the Corn Laws. 1846. 2
volumes, 1st. Edition. The Corn Laws were an attempt to protect the agricultural industry of Great Britain from cheaper imports. They were an early form of price supports. They also served as a case study in the developing field of economics for men like Engles and Malthus who wrote extensively about their impact. Organized public protest developed a new sophistication as groups joined forces to lobby for repeal. |
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J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur |
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Letters from an
American Farmer. 1782. 1st. Edition. Published in French an English in te same year, Letters along with de Tocqueville's work gives us an early glimpse at the social and political life of young America. The dedication to Abbe Raynal is included. |
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Domesday |
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Domesday Book.
1862. (Yorkshire) |
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Frederick Douglass |
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My Bondage & My Freedom.
1855. |
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Emancipation |
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Emancipation
Proclamation. 1862. 1st. Edition.
The Preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862 as a warning. On January
1, 1863 the official Emancipation was signed by President Lincoln. Elaborate copies were immediately made by famous engravers to sell as commemorative pieces. |
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Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Essays: including
"Self-Reliance." 1841. 1st. Edition. |
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Desiderius Erasmus |
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The Praise of Folly.
1765. |
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Euclid of Alexandria |
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The First Six Elements
of Geometry. 1705. |
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Federalist |
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The Federalist.
1788. 2 Volumes, 1st. Edition. |
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Galileo Galilei |
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Dialogo di Galileo
Galilei linceo matematico supremo dello studio di padova. [Galileo's
Dialogues] 1710. |
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
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Faust. 1833.
1st Edition. |
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Hugo Grotius |
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Treating of the Rights
of War & Peace. 1682. 1st Edition. |
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Thomas Hobbes |
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Leviathan.
1651. 1st. Edition. |
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Victor Hugo |
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Les Miserables.
1887. |
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David Hume |
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Philosophical Essays
Concerning Human Understanding. 1748. 1st. Edition. |
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John Locke |
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Some Thoughts
Concerning Education. 1693. 1st. Edition |
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John Locke |
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Collected Works.
1727. 3 volumes. |
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Martin Luther |
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To the Christian
Nobility of the German Nation. 1553. |
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Henry Mackenzie |
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The Letters of Brutus to Certain Celebrated Political Characters.
1791.
Like Yates who wrote as Brutus in America at the time, Mackenzie was a conservative who
mistrusted centralized power and mistrusted those who held either power
or popularity. He challenged corruption and the misuse of power. Six of the letters are shown in their entirety. |
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Magna Carta |
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Magna Carta.
1350. (Illuminated manuscript on parchment)
The Magna Carta was a product of a complex period of transition from medieval thought to participatory government. This copy was compiled with other charters and acts about 150 years later, evidence that it continued to define the concepts of rights and limitations on power through the middle ages. |
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Thomas Robert Malthus |
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Principles of Political
Economy. 1820. 1st. Edition. The first edition of Principles of Political Economy: Considered with a View to their Practical Application appeared in 1820, seven years later Malthus followed it with Definitions in Political Economy. While he is best known for his theory of population and the supply of sustenance, his works on the economic system and its functioning is closely related. |
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John Stuart Mill |
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On Liberty.
1859. |
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John Milton |
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Areopagitica. 1644. 1st. Edition. |
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Michel de Montaigne |
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Essays of Montaigne.
1685. 3 Volumes. |
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Isaac Newton |
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The Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy. 1729. 2 Volumes, 1st.
Edition. |
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Thomas Paine |
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Common Sense.
1776; 1792 1st. Edition. Common Sense appeared in many different editions over the years. The present edition was published in 1792 in London. It cost 6 pence. Note the reference to the "American War." |
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Plato |
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Republic of Plato.
1763. 1st. English Edition. |
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Mestrius Plutarch |
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The Virtues of Women
and the Parallel Lives. 1485. |
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David Ricardo |
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Political Works.
1846. |
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
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Social Compact.
1797. 1st. Edition. |
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John Sanderson |
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Biography of the
Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1820-1827. 9
Volumes, 1st. Edition. |
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Albert Schweitzer |
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The Decay and The
Restoration of Civilization. |
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Adam Smith |
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The Theory of Moral
Sentiments. 1759. 1st. Edition. |
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Adam Smith |
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Inquiry into the Nature
and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 1776. 2 Volumes,
1st. Edition. |
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Alexis DeTocqueville |
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Democracy in America.
1841. 2 Volumes, 1st English Edition. |
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Emmerich de Vattel |
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Law of Nations; or
Principles of the Law of Nature: Applies to the Conduct & Affairs of
Nations & Sovereigns. 1759. 1st. English Edition. Vattel built upon Leibnitz's concepts of natural law in his Law of Nations. Vattel's work served as the basis for much of the American Constitution, providing a system whereby power could be balanced with resort to hierarchy and monarchy. While Locke may have given us certain concepts about the equality of man, our founders rejected his concepts of government in favor of those of Vattel and Leibnitz. |
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François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire |
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Letters Concerning the
English Nation. 1733. 1st. Edition |
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Mary Wollstonecraft |
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A Vindication of the
Rights of Men. 1790. 1st. Edition. |
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Mary Wollstonecraft |
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Letters -- written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. 1796. 1st. Edition. |