Search Results: Titles starting with S from Respublica Books LLC

Boston: Printed at the Repertory Office, 1804. Pamphlet. Wraps, 9 x 6 inches, 15 pp. Contemporary, likely original, plain blue wrappers, sewn, untrimmed; text slightly browned with foxing throughout and some contemporary marginalia. Short inscription on head of front wrapper.. An uncommon first edition of A Sketch of the Character of Alexander Hamilton, attributed to the influential Massachusetts Federalist and famed orator Fisher Ames, in contemporary (and likely the original) plain blue wrappers, untrimmed and bound with original thread binding. Ames was widely recognized for his oratorical skills and fervent opposition to Jeffersonian democracy. Prior to the election of 1800, Ames urged Hamilton to align with the Federalists and nominate Aaron Burr for President over Thomas Jefferson. Despite Ames's pleas, Hamilton broke with the Federalists and supported Jefferson, which ultimately resulted in Jefferson's victory amidst the contentious Electoral College tie. After Hamilton's death in 1804… Read More

New York: John T. Flynn, 1947. First edition. Pamphlet. Stapled wraps, 6 x 9 inches, 30 pp. Browning to newsprint, otherwise very good.. An exceptional version of this pamphlet written and self-published by John T. Flynn (1882-1964) in which Flynn "tells the story of one of the strangest chapters in our history-the story of private gestapos formed to terrorize citizens who differ with the objectives of the operatives." Their purpose, he asserts, "is to frighten into silence all who dare question their plans at home and abroad. This story is told here for the first time." Flynn then details the methods by which communist sympathizers, among others, coordinate to defame and smear the reputations of anti-communist writers, journalists, and politicians. Flynn was a journalist, author, and polemicist of the "Old Right," and remained ardently opposed throughout his life to the centralization and militarization of the U. S. government. Flynn helped create the America First Committee in 1940, which lobbied… Read More

Washington, D.C.: Young Americans for Freedom, Inc, 1960. Pamphlet. Stapled wrappers, 5.5 x 8 inches, 40 pp. Rare pamphlet with minor rubbing and a very small spot to front wrap, else near fine. OCLC locates no copies.. A rare pamphlet from the early years of Young Americans for Freedom with the biographies of the group's speakers and their areas of expertise together with a reprint of the Sharon Statement on the rear wrap. The Sharon Statement was adopted on September 11, 1960 by a group of one hundred young conservatives who convened at the home of William F. Buckley Jr. in Sharon, Connecticut with the purpose of creating Young Americans for Freedom. The organization was founded to promote the ideals of individual freedom, strong national defense, and traditional values. YAF chapters soon spread to college campuses throughout the US and proved instrumental in the nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater as the Republican candidate for president in the 1964 presidential election. YAF proved an… Read More

Worcester: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jun. sold by him and by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia; also by the various Booksellers throughout the United States, 1802. First US edition. Two volumes bound as one. Contemporary calf. Re-backed, new endpapers, hole in upper margin of title and adjacent leaves, tear on final leaf affecting a few letters, browning and offsetting to pages. Enclosed in an open-end case of brown cloth with leather tips.. The first American edition of Montesquieu's (1689-1755) classic work of political theory that helped form the American Constitution. Montesquieu first published The Spirit of Laws in 1748 in his native France (as De l'esprit des loix) anonymously, in part because his works were subject to censorship. The book became recognized for its pioneering work on political theory and comparative law, and was rapidly translated into other languages and published throughout Europe. Thomas Nugent, the influential Irish historian and travel writer, published the first English… Read More

Worcester: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jun. sold by him and by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia; also by the various Booksellers throughout the United States, 1802. First US edition. Two volumes. Modern calf-backed marbled boards. Some browning of text, generally light. Contemporary signature of "Jos. Allen" on titles. Enclosed in an open-end cloth case.. The first American edition of Montesquieu's (1689-1755) classic work of political theory that helped form the American Constitution. Montesquieu first published The Spirit of Laws in 1748 in his native France (as De l'esprit des loix) anonymously, in part because his works were subject to censorship. The book became recognized for its pioneering work on political theory and comparative law, and was rapidly translated into other languages and published throughout Europe. Thomas Nugent, the influential Irish historian and travel writer, published the first English translation in 1750, but in 1751 the Roman Catholic Church placed the work on its Index… Read More

New York: The John Day Company, 1964. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original blue cloth and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Dent to top edge of boards, else fine. Minor scuffing to dust jacket spine and edges, else fine. Near-fine in near-fine dust jacket.. First edition of James Burnham's (1905-1987) prescient and influential warning regarding the American liberal project. In Suicide of the West Burnham analyzes the nature of liberalism and its influence upon the decline of Western civilization. Burnham believed that Western civilization was "contracting," and that such contraction was largely due to various pathologies within liberalism itself, including its inaptitude for power and a failure of the will to survive. As a result, liberalism permits Western civilization to be reconciled to its dissolution. After publishing his seminal work of elite theory in 1941, The Managerial Revolution: What is Happening in the World, and following the conclusion of World War II, Burnham would publish… Read More

New York: Workers Party, 1940. Mimeographed sheets, stapled at left, 8.5 x 11 inches, 8 pp. Pencil marginalia and minor toning to sheets.. Original mimeograph sheets containing James Burnham's (1905-1987) resignation from the Workers Party together with a response from the Party's Political Committee. The Workers Party was born out of prolonged factional infighting within the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and was organized in 1940 when Burnham, Max Shachtman, and other Trotskyists (estimated at forty percent of the SWP membership) resigned from the SWP in opposition to the Soviet invasion of Finland and the USSR's direction under Stalin. Although Burnham supported the split, his alliance with Trotsky and Trotskyism, which dated back to the early 1930s, was in its final stage. Throughout his years as a Trotskyist, Burnham had sought to formulate an "American approach" to Marxism capable of addressing American, as opposed to European, causes and concerns. His youthful alignment with the Marxist… Read More

New York: Fleet Publishing Company, 1962. First edition. Octavo. Original blue cloth and dust jacket. Price-clipped dust jacket with light rubbing and short, internally mended tear at bottom edge of rear panel. Minor scuffing to page block. Fine in very good-plus dust jacket.. A bright copy of Russell Kirk's (1918-1994) collection of traditional ghost stories. In addition to his status as a founding father of modern American conservatism, Kirk was a widely recognized writer of ghost stories in the classic tradition of celebrated storytellers M. R. James and H. Russell Wakefield. Kirk's ghostly output included three novels-Old House of Fear (1961), A Creature of Twilight (1966), and Lord of the Hollow Dark (1989)-and twenty-two short stories. Like other conservative fiction writers of his era (including G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien), Kirk's fictional works often contained conservative themes and undertones. And like Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien, Kirk would spend much of his… Read More

Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995. First edition. Octavo. Original cloth and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Signed by Russell Kirk's wife, Annette Kirk, on front free endpaper: "With best wishes! / Annette Y. Kirk / August 1997." Fine in fine dust jacket.. A fine copy of Russell Kirk's (1918-1994) memoirs, signed by his wife, Annette Kirk, to whom he dedicated the book. Widely celebrated as a founding father of modern intellectual conservatism, Russell Kirk-the Sage of Mecosta-set out in The Sword of Imagination to describe his participation in the intellectual, social, philosophical, and political contests of the twentieth century. Kirk wrote the book in the third person in order to tell the story of a young boy coming of age in the railroad yards outside of Detroit and maturing into one of the most influential political minds of his generation. Perhaps best remembered for his movement-defining book The Conservative Mind (1953), throughout his life Kirk wielded… Read More

Philadelphia: Sold by H. and P. Rice, No. 50 Market-Street, 1793. Duodecimo. Contemporary blue paper wrappers with early manuscript title on front wrapper. Wrappers are worn with neat repair along spine; rear wrapper discolored. Shorthand annotation on front free endpaper and second plate. Small tear to outer margin of initial leaves not affecting text. Minor soiling to folding plate with tear to inner margin just touching text of leaves B1-B2, else very good. Includes the subscriber list as well as two engraved plates.. An exceptional copy of one of the earliest shorthand manuals printed in America-and this copy is rarer still because it contains the oft-missing subscriber list, which includes Thomas Jefferson (then Secretary of State), James Madison (then a Virginia representative), and members of Congress, among others. This short manual describes the shorthand system of Thomas Lloyd (1756-1827), who was known as the "Father of American Shorthand" on account of his stenographic skill and method… Read More