Democracy in America – Alexis de Tocqueville – 1862 | Two-Volume Edition

Francis Bowen published his revised edition of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America in the United States during the Civil War, when discussions about the longevity of the Union were unavoidable. Tocqueville’s reflections on political systems, social order, and individual freedom even led him to predict the conflict, identifying slavery as an issue that would necessarily divide the population. Bowen, a professor of moral philosophy at Harvard, reviewed and reworked the earlier English translation done by Henry Reeve and introduced additional commentary, resulting in this timely two-volume edition.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Democracy in America. By Alexis de Tocqueville. Translated by Henry Reeve, Esq. Edited, with Notes, the Translation Revised and in Great Part Rewritten, and the Additions Made to the Recent Paris Editions Now First Translated, by Francis Bowen
• Author: Alexis de Tocqueville
• Contributor: Henry Reeve (Translator); Francis Bowen (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge: Sever and Francis
• Edition:
  • Vol. I: second edition, 1863
  • Vol. II: First Bowen edition, 1862
• Binding: Modern cloth spine with original publisher’s cloth over boards
• Format: Octavo (8vo), two volumes
• Size: ~ 8.25in x 6in (21cm x 15cm)
• Collation:
  • Vol. I – xxiii, [1], 559, [1]
  • Vol. II – xiv, 499, [1]
• Contents Include:
  • Complete English Text from Reeve’s original translation
  • Preface by de Tocqueville
  • Editorial Notes by Bowen

Condition:

Very Good. Both volumes have modern cloth spines, which are tight and secure with original publisher’s cloth affixed on top. Boards are mostly intact with rounded corners. Text block is tight and secure, and the pages are lightly toned around the margins. Vol. I Pages are clean aside from illegible ownership inscription on the title page, and some underlining in the text of Vol. I.

Why Collect This?

• American edition published during the Civil War
• Edited and updated by Francis Bowen

Item Number: #31061