Letter Addressed to the Addressers, on the Late Proclamation.
London: H. D. Symonds and Thomas Clio Rickman, 1792. 12mo, [2], 8, 17-40, professional rebound in brown cloth over tan boards. Lacking the half-title and pp. 9–16 (four leaves of text); the publisher’s final advertisement leaf bound at front. A significant Paine pamphlet issued in the immediate aftermath of the Crown’s proclamation of 21 May 1792 against seditious publications, a measure widely understood as directed in substantial part at the extraordinary circulation and political influence of Rights of Man. In this reply, Paine addresses his critics while extending his arguments for representative government, popular sovereignty, and political reform, and condemning what he regarded as the abuses and constitutional deficiencies of the British system. The work is closely associated with Rights of Man and has often been treated as a continuation of Paine’s polemical campaign during one of the most politically charged periods of his career. This Symonds and Rickman printing is one of several contemporary 1792 settings, reflecting the rapid and repeated publication of the tract at the height of Paine’s notoriety. An important document in the history of late eighteenth-century British radicalism, republican thought, freedom of the press, and the reception of the French Revolution in Britain.
ESTC T208476; Howes P28; Gimbel-Paine 74; Gimbel-Yale 76; Lowndes 1761. Some scattered foxing and discoloration, rubbing, lacks the leaves that should have pages 9 through 16 and the final advert leaf, else in good condition. Item #559
Price: $250.00