PAINE, Thomas

Letter Addressed to the Addressers

PAINE, Thomas. Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation. London: H. D. Symonds and Thomas Clio Rickman, 1792. Large 12mo, disbound; pp. 40. $850. Early London edition of Paine's fiery Letter, one of the first printings of this passionate work penned while fleeing charges for sedition, an eloquent defense of his Rights of Man that calls forth the model of American Revolution in "a brazen call for a revolution in England… This work is sometimes referred to as the Third Part of the Rights of Man" (Gimbel-Yale). Following publication of the 2nd part of Paine's Rights of Man (1792), British authorities "spied on Paine's every move… In May 1792 the government issued a proclamation 'against wicked and seditious writings'… Defiantly Paine penned another, shorter pamphlet Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation" (Kaye, 77-8). Named an enemy of the state, Paine "makes a brazen call for a revolution in England" (Gimbel-Yale 76). Expanding his proposal in Rights of Man that defined a constitution as "the act of the people creating a government and giving it power"—implying England had no constitution—Paine writes: "Two Revolutions have taken place—those of America and France; and both of them have rejected the unnatural compounded system of the English Government" (16). Before this could be published, however, Paine was forced to flee to France. In December he was tried in absentia and found guilty of seditious libel. "This attack on the evils of English government is practically a third part of [Paine's] Rights of Man" (Howes). Exiled in Paris, Paine "corrected the proofs [of this Letter] and sent them back to London, where the work was published around the 16th of October 1792 by Symonds and Rickman" (Gimbel-Yale 76). While impossible to determine the priority of the several 1792 printings, publishers of this edition were held responsible for its traitorous sentiments and both prosecuted: Rickman escaped to France, Symonds was jailed for two years. Lowndes, 1761. Gimbel-Stephans, 74. See Howes P28; PMM 241. Very minor edge-wear to last leaf, just touching one line of text. A very good copy of this important political document.

• USD 850.00 > другие валюты
• номер заказа: 3360

• продавец: Bauman Rare Books (USA)