Adams, John

Discourses on Davila. A Series of Papers on Political History. Written in the Year 1790, and Published in The Gazette of the United States. By an American Citizen. Boston: Russell and Cutler, 1805

8vo in half-sheet imposition (83/8 x 5 in.; 217 x 130 mm). Publisher's presentation leaf to John Adams bound in before title-page; presentation leaf mounted on a slightly larger sheet of paper, some foxing in first third of book, severe browning to quire G. Contemporary straight-grained red morocco panelled gilt; smooth spine ornamented and lettered gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, edges gilt; minor rubbing to extremities.

John Adams — Ward Nicholas Boylson (note stating that book was a gift from his cousin John). Acquisition: William Reese

8vo in half-sheet imposition (83/8 x 5 in.; 217 x 130 mm). Publisher's presentation leaf to John Adams laid in before title-page; presentation leaf mounted on a slightly larger sheet of paper, some foxing in first third of book, severe browning to quire G. Contemporary straight-grained red morocco panelled gilt; smooth spine ornamented and lettered gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, edges gilt; minor rubbing to extremities.
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First edition in book form; a remarkable presentation copy. The publishers commemorated the publication of Adams's remarks on French history and criticism of present-day French politics with a presentation leaf bound in before the title-page:  "This volume is respectfully presented to the Honorable John Adams, as a mark of respect and esteem of his obedient servants, Russel and Cutler. Boston, 1805."  Adams annotated the bottom margin of the preface "I know not the Author of this Preface, the Quotation | at the bottom, from Remarks [on the History of England] was, alone |  furnished by John Adams."  Adams's own copy, now at the Boston Public Library, is similarly inscribed on the preface: "The writer of this Preface is unknown to me. I only furnished the quotation at the bottom from Bolingbroke's Remarks. John Adams." In turn, Adams presented the book to his cousin, Ward Nicholas Boylston, who has boldly inscribed the title-page "Ward Nicholas Boylston Esq. | From his Cousin | John Adams."

Born in 1749 in Boston, Boylston left for an extended journey in Europe and Asia in 1773,  In 1775 he arrived in London where resided for twenty-five years in various aspects of trade. From 1804 until his death in 1828, he lived mostly in Princeton, Massachusetts. Soon after he had returned to Boston, Boylston  endowed a chair in Rhetoric and Oratory in honor of his uncle Nicholas, stipulating that John Quincy Adams should be appointed professor. He continued to donate generous sums to Harvard, and in 1810 gave them a valuable collection of medical and anatomical works. He also contributed funds for Harvard's Medical Library, the Boylston Anatomical Museum, various prizes for medical dissertations, and the Boylston Medical Society.

Published as a series of articles in the Gazette of the United States in the spring of 1790, Discourses was largely a translation of Enrico Caterino Davila's account of the sixteenth-century French civil wars of religion, Historia delle guerre civili di Francia (1630), gradually evolved into a commentary on Davila and ruminations on French history up to his own day. Once again, Adams argued against the unicameral democratic political system embraced by French revolutionaries in favor of the bicameralism and checks-and-balances of the American government.

In his own copy, Adams describes the withering reception of the work by his political peers: "This dull, heavy volume still excites the wonder of its author. First that he could find, amidst the constant scenes of business and dissipation in which he was enveloped, time to write it. Secondly that he had the courage to oppose and publish his own opinions to the universal opinion of all America, and indeed of almost all mankind. Not one man in America then believed him. He knew not one then, and has not heard of one since, who then believed him. The work, however, powerfully operated to destroy his popularity. It was urged as full proof that he was an advocate for monarchy and labouring to introduce an hereditary President and Senate in America."