JOHN JAY: The Winning Of The Peace ~ Unpublished Papers Volume II, 1780~1784. Edited By Richard B.Morris. Associate Editor Ene Sirvet.

dark red & gilt decorative (spine bands) full cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. very fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. spine a little faded with tiny nick at top. not torn or price clipped. nice clean vintage copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition so stated. first printing (#1 in # line). x+765p. glossy b&w maps & illustrations. bibliographic footnotes. throughout. index. biography. american history. american revolution. political philosophy. memoirs. autobiography. ~ John Jay: The Winning of the Peace, the second of four volumes of the hitherto unpublished state and private papers of a major Revolutionary statesman, covers the years of his triumphal achievements as minister plenipotentiary in Paris, negotiating, along with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the peace with Great Britain which ended the American Revolution. "Let posterity have all the means of judging and let them judge," John Adams declared in an open appeal to all parties and to all nations concerned in the peacemaking to open up their papers. In the present volume Adams' plea has been heeded, and the unpublished documents, correspondence, journals, and diaries bearing on John Jay and his role in the negotiations at last made available. When we took leave of him in the first volume of these papers, John Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary, 1745~1780, Jay was reporting to Congress his frustrations in attempting to negotiate an alliance with and obtain financial aid from the Spanish Court. He was rescued from his intolerable situation by a timely call to Paris to join Benjamin Franklin in negotiating the peace. How the negotiators won for the fledgling United States independence and a vast continental domain, while yielding only minor concessions, is a fascinating tale. To pierce the "impenetrable" veil of secrecy which enshrouded the diplomacy of John Jay, his colleagues, and counterparts Professor Morris has included herein not only Jay's own correspondence and diary but such relevant documentations from other principals and their aides as will contribute to an understanding of the bases for Jay's initiatives, suspicions, surmises, and countermoves. But this volume is considerably more than a record of a diplomatic mission. Here are memorable characters indeed~Franklin and Adams, of course; the Lafayettes and the Penns; Richard Oswald, Britain's chief negotiator; the French minister Vergennes; the Spanish ambassador Aranda; and, not least, Jay's family~his wife Sarah, who was with him in Europe, and such others as his oldest brother, Sir James, who managed somehow to end up on the wrong side. Here, too, is John Jay, himself: a complex personality, beloved and admired by family, friends, and colleagues and dreaded, if not detested, by others, including certain Spanish and French diplomats. This volume concludes as Jay and his family embark for America, having achieved what was to prove the most durable peace treaty in the history of American diplomacy. The papers of John Jay were in private hands until 1957. In that year, Columbia University acquired about 2,000 papers of this King's College (Columbia) alumnus, and now Columbia University Libraries have amassed a collection of 5,000 manuscript items, along with some 10,000 photocopied additional items (covering a two~continent search). In editing this material for publication, Richard B. Morris has given special weight to significant papers which have never been printed before, such as undeciphered correspondence; of papers printed elsewhere he has included only those published earlier with errors or omissions.…