The Revolution of America by The Abbe Raynal - SOLD BY H P KRAUS

First English edition with provenance to the legendary book dealer HP Kraus of New York. Contemporary marbled boards with later calf spine. Binding square and firm. Armorial bookplate of Scrope Beardmore DD to front pastedown and that of Henry C Compton to rear. Title page and text block age toned, crisp and unmarked throughout. Very neatly repaired tear to p.181. xvi plus 181 pp. plus 2 pp. advertisement collated and complete. Laid in is a letter offering this copy on H P Kraus Rare Books and Manuscripts headed paper.

According to Querard in Les Supercheries Litteraires Devoilees this work is not by Raynal and the same is true of other writings purported to be by him. George Chalmers speculates that the materials for it were furnished by some persons who opposed the measures of the English government, and secretly fomented the American cause since it ‘censures the conduct of the British Government with a keenness of asperity.... that surely was not natural to the impartial pen of a philosophic foreigner.’