“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.

Scarce early editions of both parts of Paine's revolutionary classic Rights of Man, each published within days of the extremely rare first editions: the second edition, first issue of Part I, bound together with the third edition of Part II. 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.

"THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN’S SOULS"

PAINE, Thomas. Writings of Thomas Paine. Albany, New York, 1792.

First edition of the collected Writings of Thomas Paine, printed in Albany in 1792, with the important first collected American edition of The Crisis, this copy notably containing the rarely found general title page and list of Subscriber’s Names, including leaders such as James Madison, his future Vice-President, Gerry Elbridge, and Nathan Hale, handsomely bound. $7500.

“THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS ON WHICH THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC WAS FOUNDED”

PAINE, Thomas. Droits de l'Homme. Paris, Mai 1791.

Rare first French edition, second state, of the first part of Paine’s Rights of Man (published the same month as the first and only two months after the first English), “the clearest of all expositions of the basic principles of democracy” (PMM), with a special preface by Paine for this French translation, in scarce contemporary wrappers. $4800.

“THOMAS PAINE WROTE LIKE NO ONE ELSE: HE WROTE FOR EVERYONE”

PAINE, Thomas. Trial of Thomas Paine, For a Libel. London, 1792.

One of the first editions of the first contemporary record of the infamous December 1792 British trial in which Paine was found guilty of seditious libel for The Rights of Man, Part Two, "his most important statement of political principles" (New Yorker). handsomely bound in full polished calf. $3500.

"A SELF-APPOINTED MISSIONARY OF WORLD REVOLUTION": FIRST FRENCH EDITION OF PAINE'S COMMON SENSE, 1791

AMERICAN REVOLUTION PAINE, Th[omas]. Sens-Commun. Paris, 1791.

First French edition of Paine's Common Sense, the work that sparked the American Revolution, issued the same year he published the first part of Rights of Man, this important edition affirming his view of the French Revolution "as a natural extension of the American one," text in French. $3000.

"THE RIGHT OF VOTING FOR REPRESENTATIVES IS THE PRIMARY RIGHT BY WHICH OTHER RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. TO TAKE AWAY THIS RIGHT IS TO REDUCE A MAN TO SLAVERY"

PAINE, Thomas. Dissertation on First-Principles of Government. Paris, 1795.

First edition in English of Paine's seminal 1795 dissertation on government, written to influence the National Convention during its struggle to create a new French constitution, Paine's urgent call for universal suffrage so that "democracy should be open to all men," featuring his speech delivered at the French National Convention in Paris on July 7, 1795, not present in all copies, where he urged its members to remember that denying "the people in a nation of their rights… is a most dangerous experiment." $2900.

A "SYMBOL OF THE MODERN FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF CITIZENS"

PAINE, Thomas. Political and Miscellaneous Works. London, 1819 [i.e. 1820]. Two volumes.

First edition of Paine's Political and Miscellaneous Works assembled by influential London publisher Carlile, who was chiefly “responsible for returning Paine to center stage in public politics" and issued his Life of Paine and preface to this edition while imprisoned for having published Paine's Age of Reason and other radical works, featuring Common Sense, American Crisis, Rights of Man (Parts I & II), Letter to George Washington and other major writings, with engraved portrait of Paine, handsomely bound in full calf. $2800.

"GOVERNMENT, IN ITS OWN ESTIMATION, HAS BEEN A SYSTEM OF PERFECTION; BUT A FREE PRESS HAS EXAMINED AND DETECTED ITS ERRORS… TODAY I STAND UP TO DEFEND THOMAS PAINE"

(PAINE, Thomas). Whole Proceedings on the Trial Against Thomas Paine. London, 1793.

Second edition, issued same year as the first, of the court transcript to Thomas Paine's 1792 British trial for seditious libel. A scarce and valued record, handsomely bound. $2600.

"SUCH WAS THE POWER OF PAINE’S PEN!"

PAINE, Thomas. Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance. Paris, 1796.

First English edition and second edition in English of Paine's fiery attack on British finance, with Jefferson possessing a 1796 edition in his library and Paine writing Jefferson in 1797, saying, "people who affected to laugh at my Decline and Fall… now see it in another light," a major work asserting the impact of the American Revolution on England, citing Adam Smith and prompting a run on the Bank of England. $2000.

“SUCH WAS THE POWER OF PAINE’S PEN!”

PAINE, Thomas. The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance. Philadelphia, 1796.

Early American edition of Paine's fiery attack on the British financial system, issued the same year as the Paris first edition, asserting the impact of the American Revolution on England, citing Adam Smith and prompting a run on the Bank of England. $1500.

"IT IS A DANGEROUS ATTEMPT IN ANY GOVERNMENT TO SAY TO A NATION, 'THOU SHALT NOT READ'" (THOMAS PAINE)

PAINE, Thomas. Letter Addressed to the Addressers. London, 1792.

1792 edition of Paine’s fiery Letter, one of the earliest printings of this passionate work penned while fleeing charges for sedition, a defense of Rights of Man that calls forth the model of the American Revolution in “a brazen call for a revolution in England… sometimes referred to as the Third Part of the Rights of Man” (Gimbel-Yale). $1200.

"THERE IS ONLY A REMOTE RESEMBLANCE TO THE FACTS OF PAINE'S LIFE"

(PAINE, Thomas) [COBBETT, William]. Life of Tom Paine. Philadelphia, 1797.

Second edition of the September, 1796 issue of William Cobbett’s barbed political journal, which includes his highly critical "The Life of Tom Paine, interspersed with remarks and reflections." An interesting and vicious contemporary attack on Paine's character. $300.