McElligott, James N. The American Debater: being A Plain Exposition of the Principles and Practice of Public Debate. New York: Ivison & Phinney, 1856. Third Edition. [10252]
Faded publisher's cloth, boards decorated in blind, spine in gilt, 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches, binding lightly scuffed, otherwise good, tight. Steel-engraved full portrait of Daniel Webster by John Chester Buttre (1821-1893), with printed signature & tissue guard. 323 pp. Dark foxing to portrait, light elsewhere. Good. Hardcover.
Title continues: Wherein will be found, An Account of the Qualifications Necessary to a good deliberative Orator, as also the Mode of acquiring Them, the Rules of Order Observed in deliberative Assemblies, Debates in Full, and in Outline, on various interesting Topics, numerous Questions for Discussion, Forms of a Constitution for Literary Clubs or Debating Societies, Etc., Etc.
"The aim of this work is not novelty, but utility...That the youth of our country ought to be conversant with the principles and practice of public debate, that is, ought to be instructed in the arts of speaking and in the modes of proceeding proper to a deliberative assembly, will immediately appear, if we but consider the important interests, social, civil, and religious, which often hang upon the decisions of bodies of this nature. The time has come, when public speaking, not that alone which is the result careful premeditation, but that, especially, which, in order to defend truth in the moment of her danger, must itself be the offspring of the moment, can no otherwise be considered than as a necessary preparation for the active duties of life." - Preface.
