Books and Manuscripts

Paine, Thomas
Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
London: Printed for the Booksellers, 1792. Two parts in one volume. Early collected edition. 12mo. vi, 98, 119, (5) pp. Contemporary three-quarter calf over marbled paper-covered boards, extremities and boards rubbed and worn, corners worn; all edges trimmed; abrasion at bottom of each title-page; prelims moderately to heavily soiled; scattered spotting and wear to text leaves. 

Scarce early collected edition of Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, in a contemporary binding. First printed in London by Joseph Johnson in March, 1791, publication was quickly taken over by J.S. Jordan, who published his own revised edition later that same year. Part two was published a year later, in February, 1792. Paine's defense of the French Revolution and republicanism in general was very controversial, and led to the text's censorship by the Pitt government, as well as Paine's indictment for treason. Tried in absentia, he was found guilty of seditious libel and was forced to flee to France. Despite the text's permanent suppression by the British government, Paine's text still managed to reach a wide audience, going through numerous editions and translations.