Henry--
You have several good options.
Herbert Storing collected many (but not all) of the extant AF writings in his (misleadingly titled) 7 volume collection under the title Complete Anti-Federalist. There is an excellent one volume edition that brings together the most intellectually substantive (although not always the most influential). Storing's introductory essay to the 7 volume set, also published separately as a slender volume, is a terrific intellectual/political theory overview of the central arguments.
The other authoritative published collection, which should be read alongside Storing, are the 20 odd volumes of Saladino, Kaminski, and I think Lefler, eds., Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution. This contains a plethora of primary sources for the months leading up to each ratifying convention. Its about as authoritative as you can get, especially if you consult the microfiche that accompanies each volume.
Then there is the excellent two volume set published by the Library of America, edited by Bernard Bailyn, which contains the essays of the Federalists, in the order they were published, alongside the more important AF writings to which Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were responding. This set is especially useful for showing how AF arguments influenced the arguments in the Federalist, because it places the entire conversation in proper chronological order.
For the political discourse in which the AF arguments emerged, the best secondary work is the book by Saul Cornell. Cornell demonstrates that a relative handful of AF writings--and not always the most intellectually richest, of the sort that most impressed Storing--were the most influential. So Cornell provides a nice guide, as you work your way through the DHRC volumes.
Let me know if you want more precise citations--I am writing here from memory, but it would be easy enough to track down the proper citations. Feel free to write me off line, if I can be useful to you.
All best wishes
Kevin R. Hardwick
James Madison University
Sent from my iPad
> On May 21, 2015, at 11:52 AM, Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> A grad student is looking for recommendations on the best edition of
> the Antifederalist papers. Any suggestions will be gratefully
> received.
>
> Henry Wiencek
>
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