(Callender, James Thomson) | "The design of this book is to exhibit the multiplied corruption of the federal government..."

(Callender, James Thomson)

The Prospect Before Us. Volume I. Richmond: Printed for the Author, and Sold by M. Jones, S. Pleasants, Jun. And J. Lyon, 1800

8vo (205 x 120mm). Contemporary ink signature on title; lightly toned. Half-calf antique, marbled boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt.

"The design of this book is to exhibit the multiplied corruption of the federal government, and more especially the misconduct of the president, Mr. Adams..."

The passionate and rare anti-Federalist screed from the "scandalmonger" himself, James T. Callender, suppressed by the Federalists who convicted him for sedition for writing it. Callender was a notorious journalist and political pamphleteer during the Federal period, issuing savage attacks on George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and others. The present work was partially financed by Vice President Thomas Jefferson who was, along with James Madison, actively working against the president and his Federalist cohorts. Jefferson had been particularly impressed with Callender’s attack on Hamilton, and wanted a similar work scrutinizing the Adams administration, especially as he was running against the incumbent president at the time.

This copy bears the ownership signature of Founding Father Theodorus Bailey, who represented New York in both the House and Senate between 1793 and 1804. Bailey also served in the New York Militia during the Revolution and attained the rank of brigadier general in the New York State Militia, where he served from 1786 until 1805. Intriguingly, Bailey was an anti-Federalist and member of Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. As such, he would have had a particular interest in the subject matter of this book.

The first part of The Prospect Before Us was popular and welcome in Virginia at the time of publication, but roundly criticized and suppressed in Philadelphia and elsewhere. As a result, the work is extremely rare, and hardly ever encountered outside institutions (Celebration of My Country). 

PROVENANCE

Theodorus Bailey (signature) 

REFERENCE

Celebration of My Country 143; Evans 37083; Federal Hundred 80; Howes C72; Shaw & Shoemaker 271