Beschreibung:

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE (1805-1859) De la Démocratie en Amerique . Paris: Bourgogne and Martinet for Charles Gosselin 1835-1840. 2 parts in 4 volumes, 8° (210 x 130mm). Woodcut publisher's device on volume I and II titles. Folding hand-coloured lithographic map by Benard. (Some browning, dampstains at beginning and end of volumes I and II, volumes III and IV lacking half-titles and titles, minor marginal fraying and short clean tear on map.) Later half morocco over marbled boards, spines gilt, speckled edges. FIRST EDITION OF BOTH PARTS. In his classic work on the American constitution, de Tocqueville was the first to wrestle with the spectacle of a 'new' society, and the first to deal connectedly with the extraordinary size and natural wealth of America; however his work has been described as 'tense with ambivalence'. While he believed in the liberal commonplaces of his time, he also distrusted a society based on individualism, and deplored a politics dominated by self-interest. Goldsmiths' 28902 (part I only); Howes T278-T279; Sabin 96060-96061. (4)