Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled..

1821. Albany, NY, 1821. First edition. Albany, NY, 1821. First edition. First Edition of the First Record of the Constitutional Convention Yates, Robert [1738-1801]. Lansing, John [1754-1829] Martin, Luther [1748-1826]. Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled at Philadelphia, in the Year 1787, for the Purpose of Forming the Constitution of the United States of America. From the Notes Taken by the Late Robert Yates, Esq. Chief Justice of New-York, and Copied by John Lansing, Jun. Esq. Late Chancellor of That State, Members of That Convention. Including "The Genuine Information," Laid before the Legislature of Maryland, by Luther Martin, Esq. Then Attorney general of That State, And a M ember of the Same Convention. Also, Other Historical Documents Relative to the Federal Compact of the North American Union. Albany: Printed by Websters and Skinners, 1821. 308 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/4"). Contemporary sheep, lettering piece and gilt fillets to spine. Moderate rubbing and a few minor stains to boards, heavier rubbing to extremities with wear to spine ends, corners and joints, which are cracked, (illegible) later owner inscription to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, offsetting to margins of endleaves. $450. * First edition. James Madison thought that Yates and Martin "reported in angry terms what they observed with jaundiced eyes." It must be added that in many particulars Yates' notes were fuller than Madison's own. Martin's "Genuine Information" summarized the course of the debates, criticizing the various provisions of the Constitution. Five more editions were published, the last one in 1845. Quotations from Warren's Making of the Constitution and Larned's Literature of American History cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 382. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 2937.