BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 34 43PAINE, Thomas. Rights of Man. WITH: Rights of Man. Part the Second. Combining Principle and Practice. London, 1791, 1792. Octavo, two volumes bound in one, period-style full tree calf gilt. $23,500 Rare second editions of Parts I and II of Rights of Man, published only days after the first editions by J.S. Jordan, who published Part I after the original edition was suppressed and was arrested for publishing Part II. One of Paine’s most important, influential, and bestselling works, Rights of Man resulted in the prosecution in England of Paine, his publishers, and booksellers, forcing Paine to flee to France. 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, and unnerved by the prospect of arrest and bankruptcy, 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 of the text and added a new title page with Jordan’s own imprint. Jordan published his edition (the first edition, second issue) on March 13, 1791, and it sold out in hours. This second edition (with changes to the text and a different pagination) was issued only three days after the first. The second part of Rights of Man was published by Jordan on 16 February 1792. Within two weeks the second part had gone through four printings. Bound with rarely found half title for Part I, without half title for Part the Second. Text nearly fine with only occasional light soiling or foxing, in a beautiful period-style binding. “The Clearest Of All Expositions Of The Basic Principles Of Democracy” (PMM)
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