Rare First Spanish Edition of Tocqueville
With Nice Folding Color Map of North America
The first Spanish translation of the first part of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, published in Paris only two years after the work's first edition. Such Paris-printed Spanish editions were usually intended for export to Mexico and the Spanish-speaking countries of South America. Published by Lecointe in Paris, the present edition was likely issued simultaneously with an edition bearing the imprint of the publisher Rosa, in fact the same printer produced both editions, A. Everat y Cie. The next recorded Spanish edition of Tocqueville appeared in Madrid in 1843, published by Sanchiz. The work was originally written in French, with the title De la Démocratie en Amérique, the first part published in two volumes in 1835 and the second part in 1840.
Tocqueville's book is a seminal work in political science and sociology, offering profound insights into the American political system and society in the early 19th century, which he observed during his visit to the United States in 1831-1832. The Spanish translation helped to disseminate Tocqueville's observations and analyses to a Spanish-speaking audience, contributing to the global understanding of democracy and American society. This Paris-printed Spanish language edition was almost certainly intended for export, mainly to Mexico and Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America.
Influence in Mexico and Latin America
José Antonio Aguilar Rivera has pointed out that the influence of Democracy in America on Latin American readers was inordinately based on a reading of this first part only (the only part available at the time), which significantly shaped how intellectuals, especially in Mexico, understood the American political system. The present 2-volume edition, known to have been available in Mexico, described the institutions of the United States with a clear optimism about democracy. It introduced the concept of the tyranny of the majority as a democratic society's issue but did not delve into the more cautious and pessimistic views on equality's effects found in the second part. By 1855, when Sánchez de Bustamante's translation of the first part was reprinted, the complete book had been available globally for fifteen years. Yet, Mexicans apparently engaged mainly with the initial optimistic portion, missing Tocqueville's later reservations and critiques on democratic equality. This selective reading likely influenced their perception of democracy, focusing on its optimistic aspects while overlooking potential drawbacks of the system highlighted in the less accessible second part.
The Map
The folding map shows the United States colored in blue, with the southern slave states boldly marked "Estados a Esclavos." While the map is a somewhat simplified picture of the United States, it manages to show quite a bit of information, including the existing states at the time, with populations, and the year each was admitted to the Union. There are also some notes regarding the early history of America. Alaska is colored pink and boldly labeled "América Rusa."
The area in modern Texas and Oklahoma is noted as "Limits of the Great Desert according to Mr. Long that cannot be cultivated, filled with granite stone, inhabited only by Buffalos, Wild Horses, and a few wandering Tribes of Indians":
Limites del gran desierto segun el Sr. Long, llanos de arena que no se pueden cultivar, llenos de piedras de granito, y fallos de agua en verano, solo se hallan alli gran numero de búfalos y caballos salvajes. Tambien se encuentran en el mismo sitio hordas de Indios poco crecidas.
The remarks below the title include two notes regarding the population of Whites and Blacks in the slave and non-slave states.
Rarity
This Spanish Tocqueville is very rare in the market, particularly when complete with the nice color folding map of America. OCLC locates only 4 examples of the present edition, of which only a single example resides in a U.S. institution, that at Syracuse University. Not a single example of the present Lecointe Paris edition in RBH, and only a single example of an 1837 Paris edition published by Rosa.