A collection of six of the most influential works on democracy ever written, all published contemporaneously with Paine’s censure in England, formerly owned by a significant figure in London’s radical intellectual history.
This volume includes a copy of Rights of Man, the Second Part (1792), printed in the same year as the first printing. (Howes places this London edition earlier than the first American, but does not delineate between the priority of the 1792 London printings.) In this second, more radical part Paine ‘laid down those principles of fundamental human rights which must stand, no matter what excesses are committed to obtain them’ (PMM 241). Paine’s influence in this work and he other ones in this volume on reformers around the world was profound, providing ‘the textbook of radical thought and the clearest of all expositions of the basic principles of democracy’ (PMM 241).
The book’s owner Barber Beaumont (1774-1841) was ‘always a champion of causes’, advocating for national defence against Napoleon, changes to the criminal justice system, and Parliamentary reform. Later an advocate for Argentinean liberation from colonial rule, in 1825, he and Rudolph Ackerman set up the Rio De La Plata Agricultural Association, an ultimately disastrous attempt at a settlement. In 1840, he founded the Mile End Philosophical Institution for ‘mental and moral improvement’. The Institution would later become Queen Mary, University of London, which retains a Barber Beaumont Chair in Humanities.
DESCRIPTION: Contemporary marbled full calf; titled in gilt to red leather spine label; gilt rolls to edges. Circular book stamp of Barber Beaumont (1774-1841) to title-page of Common Sense. Occasional underlining in pencil throughout. Binding capably and sympathetically re-backed; shelf-wear to edges; very occasional foxing, toning, and spots of ink to contents. Some leaves cut a little close with occasional very minor loss to print area.
SIX IMPRINTS: [1] Common Sense: addressed to the inhabitants of America, on the following interesting subjects: I. Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession. III. Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs. IV. Of the present State of America, with some miscellaneous Reflections. A new edition, with several additions in the Body of the Work. To which is added, an appendix; together with an address to the people called Quakers. N. B. The new Edition here given increases the Work upwards of One-Third. London: printed for H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, 1792. Pp., 36. sig., A-C6. Gimbel CS-73. ESTC N27120.
[2] Miscellaneous Articles, by Thomas Paine. Consisting of A letter to the Marquis of Lansdowne. A letter to the authors of the Republican. A letter to the Abbe Syeyes. Thoughts on the peace, and the probable advantages thereof. First letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas. Letter to Lord Onslow. Second letter to Mr. Dundas. And a letter to the people of France. London: printed for J. Ridgway, no. 1 York Street, St. James’s Square, 1792. Pp., 36 + engraved portrait frontispiece of Paine, by William Angus of Islington (1752-1821), after Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827). sig., A-C6. ESTC T5784.
[3] A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on the Affairs of North-America. In which the mistakes in the Abbe's account of the revolution of America are corrected and cleared up. London: printed for J. Ridgeway, no. 1, York-Street, St. James’s Square, 1793. Pp., 36. sig., A6 D6 D6 (lacks the B and C gatherings or 12 leaves, D gathering appears twice). ESTC T5834.
[4] Paine's Four Letters. Letters on Government: including both his letters to Mr. Dundas; with two letters to Lord Onslow, and two from Paris. London: sold by C. Stalker, Stationers’ Court, Ludgate-Street, and by all booksellers, 1792. Pp., xii, 24. sig., A-C6. ESTC T5787.
[5] Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution. London: H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, 1792. Pp., iv, 78. sig., A2 B-D12 E3. ESTC N44151.
[6] Rights of Man; part the Second. Combining principle and practice. London: printed for H. D. Symonds, Paternoster-Row, 1792. Pp., 91, [3] of appendix. sig., A-D12 (-D12). Howes P32. ESTC T5879.
