‎James Bryce‎
‎The American Commonwealth‎

‎London and New York, MacMillan, 1888. Three volumes bound in full vellum leather. First edition. Three delicately bound 155 x 220 mm (6" x 8.5") volumes of (xxxii) 592, 683 and 699 pp. Full caramel vellum leather, intricately ornated spines with 5 nerves, gilded frames and boxes containing lush greenery-inspired patterns and fleurons, all gilded, double titlepiece with the book title, author's name and volume Roman number on dark red and anthracite backgrounds, gilded floral frieze on the tails. Covers with double gilded frames and tiny corner flowers. All fore-edges colored in a mostly blue polychromia with marbled red veins. Gilded roulette work on the edges of the covers and pastedowns, colored endpapers. Unidentified ex-libris on the first pastedown bearing the motto "Ab Multis Ad Unum." With an unfolding map of "The Growth of the United States" at the beginning of the first volume. Table of contents at the beginning and index at the end of each volume. First volume: The National Government. Preface. Second volume: The State Government and the Party System. Third volume: Public Opinion, Illustrations and Reflections, Social Institutions. This book is not an encyclopaedia of the institutions of the American Republic, even though it may look like it is. Actually, James Bryce talks about the real workings of the institutions: parties, bosses, the spoil system and the public opinion. It shows an America already different from what the mere Constitution says. He compares the British monarchy with the American federal republic, the democratic versus lord elites and the centralization vs local power dynamics. By doing so, James Bryce predates the sociology of Robert Mitchels and Max Weber while maintaining the magnitude and depth of a true treatise. An analytical tour de force, worthy of a serious Americana collection.‎

Reference : 480

‎Light rubbing on some of the edges, the hinge of the 1st volume front cover is a bit frail, robust binding, interior is clean and in very good condition. A splendid set in its original intricate binding.‎