Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) project: Spectroscopy of stars earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs: The northern sample. I.

We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars (NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program, to obtain spectra, spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physical parameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40 pc of the Sun. In this paper, we report on the results of this project for the first 664 stars in the northern hemisphere. These results include precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and overall metallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of our program stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper are also available on the project's Web site.