Whole Proceedings on the Trial Against Thomas Paine - Thomas Paine - Bauman Rare Books

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Whole Proceedings on the Trial Against Thomas Paine

Thomas PAINE

Item#: 106896 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Whole Proceedings on the Trial Against Thomas Paine

“GOVERNMENT, IN ITS OWN ESTIMATION, HAS BEEN A SYSTEM OF PERFECTION; BUT A FREE PRESS HAS EXAMINED AND DETECTED ITS ERRORS… AND THEREFORE, UNDER THE BANNERS OF THAT FREEDOM, TODAY I STAND UP TO DEFEND THOMAS PAINE”

(PAINE, Thomas). The Whole Proceedings on the Trial of an Information Exhibited ex Officio by the King's Attorney-General Against Thomas Paine. Dublin: E. Lynch, et al., 1793. Octavo, disbound; pp. [2], 129.

First Dublin edition of the court transcript to Thomas Paine’s 1792 British trial for seditious libel, issued the same year as both the first American and English editions of the same year.

Paine's Rights of Man is "the clearest of all expositions of the basic principles of democracy" (PMM 241). Here, recording one of history's most compelling legal battles, is the transcript of the 1792 British prosecution of Thomas Paine, a battle that began with the printing of the second part of Rights of Man. Within months, the government issued a Royal Proclamation aimed at suppressing Paine's writings and that same day, he was charged with seditious libel. "Friends like William Blake advised him to flee the country: 'You must not go home, or you are a dead man'" (Keane, 337, 343). Heeding the advice, Paine escaped to France and the trial began in absentia. With Paine absent, his lawyer Thomas Erskine offered an eloquent defense of his friend and the rights of a free press. But a hand-picked jury quickly returned the verdict of guilty and "Paine was now an outlaw. Should he ever set foot in England again, he could be imprisoned for life or even executed" (Fruchtman, 290). The court record was recorded verbatim by Joseph Gurney whose earlier transcripts for the House of Commons resulted in the "first public acknowledgement of the verbal accuracy of shorthand" in any country (DNB). Gimbel, 78. Sabin 96918.

Text uniformly toned, scattered foxing. A very good copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
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Colophon Printed note at the end of a text containing information about the printing of the book.
Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
Edition Print-run from a single setting of type without substantial change. Depending on demand, any number of printings can be made from a setting of type For example, a first printing might consist of 1000 copies, followed by a second printing of 2500 copies; in which case the book would have a first edition, first printing of 1000 copies, and a first edition, second printing of 2500 copies.
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Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
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Japanese Vellum Expensive handmade paper often used in deluxe editions.
Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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