Rare printed pamphlet entitled Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America by Thomas Paine. London: reprinted for J. Almon, 1776. Rebound as a hardcover in full morocco with gilt-stamped spine, 5.25 x 8.5, 54 pages. The pamphlet bears both an introduction and an appendix, with the title page reading, in part: “A New Edition, with several Additions in the Body of the Work. To which is added an Appendix; together with an Address to the People called Quakers. N. B. The New Addition here given increases the Work upwards of One-Third. / Man knows no Master save creating Heaven, Or those whom Choice and common Good Ordain. Thomson.”
This early edition agrees with Richard Gimbel's points of issue for the fourth English edition (issued the same year as the first) and, like most English editions, has hiatuses deleting material critical of the English crown and government to avoid prosecution—these passages have been restored in a contemporary hand. The 1776 American editions of Common Sense ignited the drive for independence and led directly to the ratification of the Declaration of Independence; printed within months of their American counterparts, the British editions greatly affected public opinion in England, drawing many to support the American cause.
There were four London editions of Common Sense printed by John Almon in 1776, issued in two forms: with and without James Chalmers' Plain Truth, both with and without a half title. This copy of Common Sense is in the format without Plain Truth and without the half title. The hiatuses in lines 15 and 17 of the Introduction, “combination” and "usurpation,” are printed; it has the correct pagination of page 23; and the "e" in "fire" in the final line of the introduction has been dropped to line of the catchword. This represents a remarkable early 1776 London edition of Paine’s Common Sense—all 1776 editions of Common Sense are rare, desirable, and increasingly difficult to obtain.
In very good condition, with minor scuffs to boards, mottled toning and some minor staining to textblock, and paper restorations to the top and side of the title page. Accompanied by a first edition hardcover of 46 Pages: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the Turning Point to Independence by Scott Liell.
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