“I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD AND NO MORE… I BELIEVE IN THE EQUALITY OF MAN; AND I BELIEVE THAT RELIGIOUS DUTIES CONSIST OF DOING JUSTICE, LOVING MERCY, AND ENDEAVORING TO MAKE OUR FELLOW CREATURES HAPPY”: EXTREMELY RARE EDITIONS OF PAINE’S AGE OF REASON PARTS I & II, 1794-95

PAINE, Thomas. The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. Paris: Printed by Barrois. London: Sold by D.I. Eaton, 1794. WITH: The Age of Reason. Part the Second…. [Paris]: Printed for the Author [by J.B. Louvet], 1795. Two volumes. Octavo, disbound; pp. (2), (1)-55, (1); viii, 143, (1). Housed in custom folding chemises, together in a custom clamshell box.

Extremely rare and important first and very early edition of the two separately written and published parts of Paine’s landmark Age of Reason—“his great work of this period” (ANB). Part I is one of the very earliest editions in English (priority uncertain), printed for distribution in London (any of the early editions in English are extremely rare and desirable). Part II is the first edition in English, which Paine had printed in Paris for distribution in America.

“Part I of the Age of Reason was written in Paris in 1793— in haste, because although Paine had originally been lionized by the French as a true ally in the cause of liberté, égalité, fraternité, he soon became disillusioned by the increasing violence of the revolution. When Paine declared his opposition to the execution of Louis XVI, he placed his own life in imminent danger. Arrested on Robespierre’s order, Paine was able to deliver the manuscript to his friend Joel Barlow, who was also a close friend of Jefferson’s, while en route to the Luxembourg Prison on December 28, 1793. In one of the more disgraceful manifestations of ingratitude by any American administration, Paine was left for more than nine months to rot in prison… Only when the freethinking James Monroe replaced Gouverneur Morris as minister to France did the American government exert its influence to obtain Paine’s freedom. Paine wrote Part II of The Age of Reason while recovering from his severe ulcerative illness in Monroe’s home” (Jacoby, Freethinkers).

“Ignored by the French, the book was extraordinarily successful in Britain and America… In England, The Age of Reason rapidly became a bestseller, in spite of the government’s decision to prosecute any bookseller that would circulate it. The book had to be printed and sold underground… In the United States, demand was even more frenetic… Although Paine’s work had originally been composed to keep the French from ‘running headlong into atheism,’ it was immediately referred to, in the English-speaking world, as the ‘Devil’s Prayer-Book’ or ‘the Bible of Atheism.’ The Age of Reason was not the first critique of the Biblical text to be published during the Age of Enlightenment, but it was the first one to have been written in such simple and direct language, larded with wit, humor, verve, cheek…, a clever mixture of popular common sense and scientific analysis that could be easily grasped by the mass of ordinary people” (Vincent, Transatlantic Republican, 14-15).

“As a Deist and a republican writer and activist, Paine believed that religious beliefs had to be reasonable and that God had given human beings control over their lives to perform good deeds. Paine believed that a truly religious man need not belong to a church or even attend religious services…. A man must devote his life, as he had, to performing good works and leave the world a better place than he found it. His writings display his dedication to the principle that people everywhere would see that rights and liberty form the very foundation of human life and that no person should ever willingly relinquish them without a fierce struggle. By his rational analysis of God, government, and society, Thomas Paine personified the Age of Reason” (Jack Fruchtman, Jr.)

The publication history of Part I is rather complicated, and a definitive priority among all the early editions has not been determined. A virtually unobtainable edition in French was published in March 1793 and immediately suppressed by the authorities, with only one known copy found. In March 1794 the first obtainable edition in French was published with the Paris imprint of Gueffier and the edition in English with the Paris imprint of Barrois. Gimbel states that “copies printed cheaply in English were sent to America, but a much finer edition was printed in Paris for circulation in England” (Gimbel-Yale, p. 429). There are at least three editions of Part I in English with Barrois’ Paris imprint but different pagination (77 pages, 44 pages, and 117 pages), as well as a 55-page edition (this copy) with a joint Paris and London imprint stating that the work was printed in Paris by Barrois and sold in London by D. I. Eaton. (It has been assumed that this was the edition printed in Paris for distribution in England, but a few sources speculate that it may actually have been printed in London.) The 77-page edition with the single Barrois imprint has been identified by a number of sources as the first edition in English, though there is evidence of a suppressed first issue (the Library of Congress owns an imperfect and apparently unique copy) that is identical up to the middle of page 77 but then continues with Paine’s account of his arrest and other material which does not appear in any other version, including the other Barrois printings. Though no priority has been established among the rest of the early editions in English, all of them are rare and desirable, including the edition offered here (with the joint Paris and London imprint).

The publication history of Part II is far more straightforward. In September 1795, Paine engaged Paris printer J.B. Louvet to print Part II both in a French translation and in English. The first edition in English (this copy) has the imprint “Printed for the Author” and is 143 pages long. In September 1795 Paine forwarded 15,000 copies of this edition to Benjamin Franklin Bache in Philadelphia for distribution in America. However, the copies did not arrive in America until April 1796, long after the work had been reprinted in America and England. Unbeknownst to Paine, the French printer sold a faulty transcript of the English manuscript to London printer H.D. Symonds, who published his pirated edition in London on October 25, 1795. When Paine found out, he sent to London publisher Daniel Isaac Eaton a copy of the edition he had printed in Paris and asked Eaton to publish a “cheap edition,” and thus the first authorized London edition was published by Eaton on January 1, 1796. Part I with variants (priority not established) containing either “Two Shillings” or “One Shilling and Sixpence” (this copy), with uncorrected “puplish” (p. 37, line 6 from bottom), corrected “christian” from “christaian” (p. 33, line 7 from bottom), corrected “lever” from “leaver” (p. 29, line 1); without half title. Gimbel-Paine:17-25. Gimbel-Paine 23, 27. ESTC N3842, N29398. Barker (Thetford) 6. See Gimbel-Yale:87-89; Barker (Thetford) 16; Evans 29267. OCLC lists 34 copies (I); 17 copies (II). Small bookplate to title page verso (I).

Interiors fresh with light scattered foxing, very minor occasional dampstaining, faint embrowning three tiny pinholes from original stitching. A highly desirable extremely good set of the monumental Paine work.