Is My Copy of The Federalist: A Collection of Essays a First Edition?

The points of issue

• New York: Printed and sold by J. and A. M'Lean, no
• 41, Hanover-Square, M,DCC,LXXXVIII [1788]. Two volumes, duodecimo (12mo) — not octavo, which is a frequent cataloguing error; leaf size runs roughly 4.25 x 6.25 inches
• Volume I (essays 1-36) was published 22 March 1788 and collates vi, 227, [1] pp.; Volume II (essays 37-85, with the text of the Constitution printed at pp. 367-384) followed on 28 May 1788 and collates vi, 384 pp. The standard paging fault of the first edition, recorded in institutional catalogue records, is in Volume II: page 256 is misnumbered 156
• The book is anonymous — no authors' names appear on the title page and the essays stand over the pseudonym 'Publius.' About 500 copies were printed
• Two paper states exist: a small number on superfine royal writing paper (thick-paper copies, generally understood as presentation copies) and the ordinary-paper copies
• Volume II was printed on larger paper than Volume I. Expected dress is contemporary American sheep or calf with a morocco spine label

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

There is no UK/US or original-language precedence question: the essays were written for New York newspapers and the McLean two-volume set of 1788 is the first book appearance and the true first edition. The immediate trap is the 1799 'second edition' (New York: printed and sold by John Tiebout): it is not a new printing at all but the unsold McLean sheets reissued under a cancel title page dated 1799, so the text block is identical to the 1788 first — collate the sheets, not the title page. Two later editions matter for textual precedence rather than for priority of printing: George F. Hopkins (New York, 1802), the last published in Hamilton's lifetime, whose title page still reads 'By Publius' — Hamilton refused per-essay attribution, so the three authors are named only in the front matter — and Jacob Gideon (Washington, 1818), the first edition to carry Madison's corrections and to assign each essay to its author.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists for an eighteenth-century imprint. The reprint and reissue tells that matter are: (1) the 1799 Tiebout reissue — original McLean sheets under a cancel title page, the single most common misidentification; (2) the nineteenth-century resettings (Hopkins 1802, Williams & Whiting 1810, Gideon 1818 and after), all of which announce themselves on the title page; and (3) modern two-volume facsimile reprints of the 1788 edition, including law-reprint-house issues, which reproduce the original title pages but betray themselves by machine-made paper, modern casing, a modern publisher's imprint elsewhere in the book, and an ISBN.P-038144

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Federalist: A Collection of Essays a first edition?

A first edition of The Federalist: A Collection of Essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (J. and A. McLean, New York) is identified by: New York: Printed and sold by J. and A. M'Lean, no.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). There is no UK/US or original-language precedence question: the essays were written for New York newspapers and the McLean two-volume set of 1788 is the first book appearance and the true first edition.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue exists for an eighteenth-century imprint.

I have a first edition of The Federalist: A Collection of Essays — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.