Letters and other Writings of James Madison Fourth President of the United States
New York: J. B. Lippincott & Co, 1867. Frontispiece, li, 658p: xxxvii, 617p: lx, 670p: lvii, 694p. Publishers original light brown cloth over boards with titles lettered in gold on the spines. FROM THE LIBRARY OF ABOLITIONIST AND JAMES MADISON BIOGRAPHER SYDNEY HOWARD GAY WITH HIS SIGNATURE ON THE TITLE PAGE. In 1837, Congress appropriated $30000 for the acquisition of the MSS of James Madison from Dolly Madison. Those letters and documents were published in a three-volume set in 1840. In May 1848, the Congress bought the remaining previously unpublished MSS of James Madison and in 1856 Congress appropriated funds for the publishing of this four-volume set which was printed in 1000 copies. There are a few letters in this publication which appeared in the 1840, but almost all were previously unpublished covering the time period 1769-1836. Sydney Howard Gay (1814-1888) was an American journalist, attorney and abolitionist. He was also the editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard for fourteen years. In 1884, Gay published a biography of President James Madison. Gay has made index references inside the rear blank leaf in volume 1 to sections on among things the abolition of slavery and the Constitution. On p513, he drew a vertical line with a pencil along the margin of a letter James Madison wrote to Edmund Randolph in 1790. The letter itself is quoted on p154 the 1898 edition of Gay's biography. Volume I show more use than the other three volumes. A vertical crease mark along the spine indicates that the book laid open on a table for an extended period of time. Some rubbing to the headbands and extremities of the boards and a few leaves in the three remaining volumes are uncut/unopened. In general, a well-preserved set in relatively limited production with a rather distinguished provenance. Item #10090
Price: $800.00