BURKE'S INFLUENTIAL ATTACK ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, "ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT OF ALL POLEMICS"—SECOND EDITION, ISSUED JUST ONE DAY AFTER THE FIRST

BURKE, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France, And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. London: J. Dodsley, 1790. Octavo, contemporary full tree calf sympathetically rebacked in calf-gilt, red morocco spine label, later endpapers. $2800.

Second edition, first printing, published one day after the first edition, of Burke's important and controversial attack on the French Revolution, which sparked Paine's equally famous rebuttal, The Rights of Man.

"One of the most brilliant of all polemics… It is not to be wondered at that a man who desired justice for America but rejected Jefferson's doctrines would be deeply stirred by the events of 1789. To Burke an absorption with the end and neglect of the means was the most dreadful of sins. His anger and disgust were exacerbated by the dread that the aims, principles, methods and language which he detested in France might infect the people of England. This it was which provoked the Reflections" (PMM 239). "[Burke's] attack on the French Revolution… infuriated Paine, who was chagrined by these statements coming from his former friend, the great liberal. He rushed into print with his even more celebrated answer, The Rights of Man" (Gimbel-Yale 58-59). "The effect of the Reflections was extraordinary. It created a reaction against the revolution; it divided Englishmen into two parties and did much to ruin the Whigs… Abroad the Reflections created no less stir than at home, and Burke received the compliments of different foreign sovereigns" (DNB III:358). Due to the book's immediate success, a number of impressions were printed within days of each other with only slight variations, with three impressions appearing before the stated second edition. The press figures in this copy mark it as second edition, first impression, which Todd estimates was issued as little as one day after the first edition. The stated "second edition" was not published until November 8. Issued without half title. See Grolier 100 63. Todd 53b. Owner signature to title page.

Text fine, expert restoration to tree calf boards. An excellent copy.