The Political and Miscellaneous Works of Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine

Published by R. Carlile, 1820

About this Item

Thomas Paine, The Political and Miscellaneous Works of Thomas Paine, London: R. Carlile (1819 stated, but must have been 1820 or later). Two volumes. This early compilation of Paine s pamphlets and letters enjoys its original handsome hard blinding. The print is very comfortable for the eye. The volume opens with Carlile s Memoir of Paine s life which was also published as a 19-page pamphlet in 1820. (Pp. iii-xxxiv.) While these volumes carry an 1819 publication date, the Publisher s Preface to the Present Edition is dated Dorchester Gaol, Nov. 12, 1820. (At p. xlii.) The first of two editor s prefaces (pp. xxxv-xlii) discloses that there was an 1817-18 edition. Volume I provides the following list of its contents: Common Sense. American Crisis. Public Good. Letter to Abbe Raynal. Letter to George Washington. Letter to Thomas Paine. (From George Washington thanking Paine for his proposal to present me with fifty copies of [the recently penned Letter to Abbe Raynal], for the amusement of the army .] In this essay Paine argued that the cause of the American Revolution went far beyond objections to being taxed by the British and contended that the colonists rebellion was revolutionary in that they had irreversibly altered both the structure of government and the popular perceptions of the legitimacy of state power. Dissertations on Government, the Affairs of the Bank and Paper Money. Prospects on the Rubicon. Though not listed into the contents, Part I of The Rights of Man concludes the first volume. The second volume contains Part II of The Rights of Man and too many essays and letters to list here. With the publication of Common Sense on January 10, 1776, a month before he turned 39, Paine exploded onto the transatlantic stage as the foremost advocate of obtaining liberty for the colonies by fighting the British. Paine himself commented that any literary talent he might have had was buried in me and might ever have continued so, had not the necessity of the times dragged and driven him to write. (The Crisis, No. VIII, ¶6.) Paine s importance to the colonists cause was cemented by the first issue of The Crisis which George Washington had read aloud to the army he commanded. Without Paine s pen, the war might well have been lost almost as soon as it began. Seller Inventory # 12

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Political and Miscellaneous Works of ...

Publisher: R. Carlile

Publication Date: 1820

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine