require('includes/navbar.php') ?>

THOMAS PAINE
FIRST
PAINE COLLECTION
Paine, Thomas. The works of Thomas Paine. London: D. Jordan, 1792. 8vo (21.6 cm, 8.5"). Frontis., [4], 67, [1], viii, 110, [2], 142, [2], 69, [3], 29, [3], 16, 9, [1] pp.
$2500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of Paine's collected works, or rather selections therefrom. The contents are parts I and II of Common Sense, parts I and II of Rights of Man (the latter having first appeared in the same year as this compilation), the Letter on Republicanism, Thoughts on the Peace, and letters to the Abbé Raynal, the Earl of Shelburne, the Abbé Syeyes, Secretary Dundas, and Lord Onslow. The items have been gathered and issued here under a general title-page with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Paine; each separate title-page states “ninth edition.”
Individual titles in this collection are often separated and sold as if complete in themselves, but the present volume reflects their original state and the publisher's intent.
ESTC T5785; Goldsmiths'-Kress 15080; Sabin 58244; Stephans, Paine Collection of Richard Gimbel, 1. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations between gilt-ruled raised bands. Title-page and a few others with oval,19th-century institutional rubber-stamp; lower (closed) page edges rubber-stamped sometime later. Variable, mild to moderate foxing and other spotting, especially “in from edges”; occasional pencilled bracketing or underlining. One leaf with short tear in outer margin, not touching text. (25027)
Cheetham, James. The life of Thomas Paine, author of Common sense, The crisis, Rights of man, &c. &c. &c. New York: Southwick & Pelsue, 1809. 8vo (22.2 cm, 8.75"). 347, [1] pp.
$575.00

First edition. Cheetham, once a friend of Paine, later turned against him, and this work reflects a great deal of bitterness and resentment: The author makes much of Paine’s alleged lack of personal cleanliness. A pseudonymous “Politicus,” in an attempt to encourage the writing of another life, said “Cheetham, humph! Now should it not rather be spelled Cheat’em, as applicable to every reader of that farrago of imposition and malignity, miscalled the ‘Life of Paine’?”
Click either image for an enlargement.
Provenance: Pencilled note on endpaper, “From Ralph E. McCoy’s Library”; McCoy, emeritus Dean of Libraries at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, published widely on the First Amendment freedoms.
Howes C336; Sabin 12379; Shaw & Shoemaker 17193. Later quarter plain brown paper over contemporary tan paper–covered sides; edges and corners rubbed. Front free endpaper (modern) with pencilled note of McCoy’s ownership; front fly-leaf with pencilled gift inscription dated 1849. Offsetting and foxing throughout. A very sound copy.
Hardy,
Thomas. The patriot. Addressed to the people, on the present
state of affairs in Britain and in France. With observations on republican government,
and discussions of the principles advanced in the writings of Thomas Paine. Edinburgh:
J. Dickson, & London: G. Nicol, 1793. 8vo in 4s (19.5 cm, 7.7"). [4], 76 pp.
$450.00

First edition. This response to Paine’s Rights of Man is attributed to a Scottish clergyman (sometimes called Hardie) who taught church history at Edinburgh University — not to the radical politician of the same name who was charged with treason in 1794.
ESTC T102145; Sabin 59081. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label.margins; some leaves lightly foxed, with final page darkened.
AND!
A Charlottesville Imprint
(Paine,
Thomas).
Monroe, James. The memoir of James Monroe, Esq. Relating to his unsettled claims
upon the people and government of the United States. Charlottesville: Gilmer,
Davis & Co., 1828. 8vo (21.1 cm, 8.3"). [5], 660 pp.
$600.00
First stand-alone printing, collecting documents that first appeared
in the National Intelligencer in 1826. Monroe reiterates his long-denied
financial claims, providing details of his diplomatic service as U.S. minister
to France in 1794 and 1803, and details of the monetary outlays involved. Supporting
evidence includes letters from Mr. Gouvain, Major Mountflorence,
Thomas
Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Talleyrand.
This
would, of course, have been a hometown publication for Monroe.
Sabin 50017; Shoemaker 34179. Untrimmed and unbound, spine
reinforced with tape. Title-page with early inked ownership inscription, and
very faint numerical stamp. Light foxing, some dog-earing to lower corners.

PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | GO (BACK) TO TOPIC/INTEREST
TABLE | PRB&M HOME
All material © 2010
The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts
Company