45 BAUMAN RARE BOOKS “So Near To Perfection… I Think It Will Astonish Our Enemies”: Rare First British Printing Of The Plan Of The New Constitution For The United States Of America, 1787 52(CONSTITUTION). Plan of the New Constitution for the United States of America. London, 1787. Slim octavo, later half brown calf gilt. $26,000 Very rare first printing in England of the American Constitution, printed shortly after news arrived in London in early November 1787, an exceptional document in Anglo-American history. On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was signed and Americans wrote their new nation into history. To assure open discussion, it had been decided that “nothing spoken in the House be printed, or otherwise published or communicated without leave. Journalists and curious spectators were forbidden to attend, sentries were stationed at doors, and delegates, sworn to secrecy, remained tight-lipped to outsiders” (Chernow, 228). In his closing address, Benjamin Franklin declared the final document “so near to perfection… I think it will astonish our enemies” (Isaacson, 458). With the Constitution signed and “the injunction on secrecy lifted, the delegates themselves wasted little time in making copies available” (Rapport, “Printing the Constitution,” 80). Here, in this 30-page document, the British received clear notice of “the sudden rise of a new Empire in the World, constituted on principles of government essentially different from the old.” Text bright and fine. An excellent uncut copy.
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