Bonnot de Mably - États-Unis d'Amérique - 1785

THE BIRTH OF THE UNITED STATES – RARE IRISH EDITION OF 1785 OF Letters to John Adams
UNAUTHORIZED EDITION – Dublin printing, lacking publisher’s imprint, holds particular interest for the history of the international circulation of Enlightenment political writings. A rare witness to European political Enlightenment dedicated to the birth of the United States of America. Published in Dublin in 1785, this early edition reprints Gabriel Bonnot de Mably’s analysis of the American constitutions. Four letters addressed to John Adams, future second President of the United States, examine the foundations of the new republic. A fundamental work in the eighteenth‑century debate on liberty, popular sovereignty, and the balance of powers. An exceptionally genuine specimen, preserved in the rustic contemporary binding, with the pages still untrimmed and wide original margins.

ABSTRACT
Very rare 1785 Irish edition of Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États-Unis d'Amérique by abbot Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, one of the most significant European reflections on the political institutions of the young American republic. Originally published in Amsterdam in 1784, the work arose from an intellectual exchange with John Adams, then the United States’ diplomatic representative in the Netherlands and future American President. Adams had invited the French philosopher to write a history of the American Revolution, but Mably preferred to focus on the constitutions and the legislative principles of the independent states. Through four letters written in 1783, the author analyzes the foundations of republican government, the relation between liberty and authority, political representation, the legislative power, and the dangers arising from the concentration of power. Particular attention is given to the constitutions of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Georgia. This Dublin edition, probably unauthorized, testifies to the rapid circulation of American constitutional ideas in the Enlightenment Europe. The volume also includes Remarques d'un Républicain, a substantial critical commentary that broadens the discussion of institutions and problems of the new federation. Complete exemplar of 277 pages and an unnumbered final page, preserved in the rustic contemporary binding with untrimmed edges.

WHY TO BUY
RARE 1785 DUBLIN EDITION – An early Irish impression of the work, published barely a year after Amsterdam’s first edition of 1784, at a crucial stage of the European debate on the American Revolution. LETTERS TO JOHN ADAMS – The treatise derives from four letters to one of the key figures of American independence, the future second President of the United States. ONE OF THE FIRST EUROPEAN ANALYSES OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM – Mably examines the institutions of the young republic when the new federal system was still forming, before the United States Constitution of 1787. EDITION PROBABLY UNAUTHORIZED – Dublin print, lacking publisher’s imprint, presents particular interest for the history of the international circulation of Enlightenment political writings. WITH THE REMARQUES D'UN RÉPUBLICAIN – The presence of the extensive critical response enriches the work, turning it into an intellectual dialogue on the principles of republican government. EXQUISITELY BOUND IN BARBES – The pages retain the original untrimmed margins, a feature highly valued by antique book collectors. CONTEMPORARY RUSTIC BINDING – Preservation in the simple seventeenth‑century rustic cover restores to the volume a material authenticity often missing in later rebound copies.

MARKET VALUE
Eighteenth‑century works devoted to the American Revolution and the formation of United States institutions constitute a significant sector of international antiquarian collecting, especially sought after by enthusiasts of political history, Americana, and Enlightenment philosophy. The first editions of Mably and contemporary impressions hold particular interest due to their temporal proximity to the events that led to the birth of the American republic. The Irish edition of 1785 stands out for its early date, typographic provenance, and the interest of its international diffusion. Preserved in the rustic contemporary binding with untrimmed pages, it adds a further favorable element. For an exemplar in the described condition, a broad antique market estimate might place value around €450–500, with potential variability depending on market conditions and collecting demand.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Volume preserved in its contemporary plain card binding. Wear marks. Internally pages with slight browning and sporadic foxing. Exemplar still in barbells (untrimmed), with irregular edges characteristic of untrimmed paper. In antique books with a multigenerational history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visuals. Please refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. 278.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Gabriel Bonnot de Mably.
Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États-Unis d'Amérique.
Dublin, 1785.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The publication of Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États‑Unis d'Amérique sits at one of the most important moments in the history of Western political thought. After the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the international recognition of American sovereignty in 1783, the thirteen former British colonies faced the challenging need to build institutions capable of reconciling individual liberty, political representation, and state stability. The constitutions adopted by the individual states offered European intellectuals an unprecedented political laboratory in which to observe the concrete application of Enlightenment principles. Deeply interested in the classical republican tradition and the critique of inequality, Mably tackled these questions by examining the laws and forms of American governance. The work is not merely a celebration of independence, but a critical analysis of the problems the new republic would have to address to preserve gained liberties. Special attention is given to the distribution of powers, the function of legislators, the duration of magistracies, the defense of property, religion, and the relationship between civic virtue and economic prosperity. The author also reflects on the need to prevent the new political system from reproducing the forms of privilege and corruption characteristic of European regimes. The additional section Remarques d'un Républicain introduces a particularly meaningful comparison with Mably’s positions, discussing the practical difficulties of republican legislation, differences among the individual states, and the needs of a great confederation. The volume thus represents a direct witness to the international debate that preceded the American federal Constitution of 1787 and the French Revolution of 1789, two events that were to profoundly transform the language of modern politics.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Gabriel Bonnot de Mably was born in Grenoble in 1709 and died in Paris in 1785. A French philosopher, historian, and political thinker, he was one of the most original figures of European Enlightenment and one of the principal eighteenth‑century theorists of republicanism. Elder brother of the philosopher Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, he initially pursued the ecclesiastical career, later turning to historical and political studies. His works dealt with the history of antiquity, public law, diplomacy, legislation, and the moral foundations of society. His critique of economic inequality and wealth concentration was especially influential, as he saw them as factors capable of compromising political liberty and civic virtue. Among his most important writings are Observations sur les Grecs, Entretiens de Phocion, De la législation ou principes des loix, and Observations sur l'histoire de France. His thought exerted notable influence on French republicanism and on political debates that accompanied the Revolution of 1789. The Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États-Unis d'Amérique, published in the final years of his life, testifies to his interest in the American constitutional experiment, in which he recognized an extraordinary opportunity to compare the theoretical principles of republican government with the reality of newly formed political institutions.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États-Unis d'Amérique was first published in Amsterdam in 1784, after being composed in epistolary form in 1783. The work entered the lively international debate triggered by the American colonies’ victory over Great Britain and the birth of a new independent state. Mably’s renown and John Adams’s political prestige contributed to its circulation in the major European intellectual circles. This Dublin 1785 edition, in French and without a publisher’s imprint, constitutes an early testimony to the text’s diffusion in the British Isles. The possibility that it is an unauthorized reprint seems compatible with the publishing practices of the period, though such a designation would require documentary verification. The absence of a publisher’s name on the title page increases the bibliographic interest of the exemplar, but does not by itself identify the workshop responsible. The text includes Mably’s observations and the subsequent Remarques d'un Républicain, which develop a systematic critique of several of the author’s arguments. It is important to distinguish this Dublin French edition from the English translation that appeared in the same city in 1785 under the title Remarks Concerning the Government and the Laws of the United States of America. The contemporaneous circulation of the text in French and English confirms the British and Irish public’s interest in the American constitutional experiment. The preservation of the exemplar in its original rustic binding, with untrimmed margins, enhances its bibliographic appeal and documents the material conditions in which a portion of eighteenth‑century book production was originally distributed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États-Unis d'Amérique, Amsterdam, 1784, first edition. Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des États-Unis d'Amérique. Avec des Remarques d'un Républicain, Dublin, 1785. Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Remarks Concerning the Government and the Laws of the United States of America: In Four Letters, Addressed to Mr. Adams, Dublin, 1785, English edition. Joseph Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from Its Discovery to the Present Time, no. 42925, reference to the English edition. English Short Title Catalogue, record T109656, English edition of Dublin 1785. John Adams, diplomatic and political correspondence relating to the relations with Gabriel Bonnot de Mably. Catalogues of the eighteenth‑century works relating to the American Revolution, the US constitutions, and the European circulation of Enlightenment political philosophy.