42 BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 53PAINE, Thomas. Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution. BOUND WITH: Rights of Man. Part the Second. Combining Principle and Practice. London, 1791, 1792. Octavo, early speckled calf boards rebacked. $42,000 Extremely rare editions of both parts of Paine’s revolutionary classic Rights of Man. The exceptionally rare and desirable first edition, second issue of Part I, consisting of the text sheets from the famous suppressed and virtually unobtainable first issue printed by Paine’s original publisher and withdrawn by him on the day of publication, which were rescued by Paine and his friends, and the new title page and preface printed by Paine’s new publisher, J.S. Jordan; bound together with the third edition of Part II. Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France “appeared November 1, 1790. Paine quickly began a response, and on “29 January 1791, Paine made haste to take the manuscript to a printer named Joseph Johnson” (Hitchens, 51-52). “Fearing the book police... Johnson suppressed the book on the very day of its scheduled publication… Paine reacted fast. He agreed to a deal with another publisher, J.S. Jordan… and with the help of friends and a horse and cart delivered to him Johnson’s printed, unbound sheets.… Prior to leaving [for France], Paine passed on several bound copies of the original Johnson edition into private hands, but only a few of these have survived” (Keane, 304-5). Jordan took Johnson’s unbound sheets and added a new title page with his imprint. Jordan published his edition (this first edition, second issue) on March 13, 1791, and it sold out in hours. It’s not known how many copies of this issue Jordan published using Johnson’s sheets, but it was likely only in the hundreds. Part II was published by Jordan on 16 February 1792. Within two weeks it had gone through four printings. A few early ink marginalia in Part II. Very light occasional foxing to Part I. A fine copy, handsomely bound. “The Clearest Of All Expositions Of The Basic Principles Of Democracy” (PMM)
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