“THE CLEAREST OF ALL EXPOSITIONS OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY” (PMM)
PAINE, Thomas. Rights of Man. BOUND WITH: Part the Second. London, 1791, 1792.
Extremely rare 1791-1792 editions of Paine’s revolutionary classic, containing the scarce second edition of Rights of Man (Part I), issued within days of the first edition, together in one volume with the rarely found first edition, first issue of Part the Second. Paine's Rights of Man, one of his most important, influential, and best-selling works, is "the clearest of all expositions on the basic principles of democracy" (PMM), and remains "one of the most ardent and clear defenses of human rights, liberty, and equality in any language" (Fruchtman). Paine hoped the work "would do for England what his Common Sense had done for America" (Gimbel), but it resulted in the prosecution of Paine, his publishers and booksellers, and forced Paine to flee to France. $25,000.
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