Is My 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

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 census claim is correct on publisher, city and year. 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. The census framing of the Hopkins and Gideon editions as the 'realistic collectibles' is a market judgement, not a bibliographical point, and has been dropped.

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.

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.

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. 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 reprodu

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 — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

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.