BURKE'S INFLUENTIAL ATTACK ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, "ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT OF ALL POLEMICS"—UNCUT SECOND EDITION, ISSUED JUST DAYS 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, period-style full red morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, uncut. $2750.

Second edition, second printing, published only five days 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—an uncut copy.

"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 misprint "ascertainmennt" at page 223, line 23 marks this as the second edition, second impression, a run of 2000 copies on November 6, 1790, just five days after the first edition. (Confusingly, Todd states that the misprint is "ascertainnment" rather than "ascertainmennt" as found; however, the press figures in this copy match his for the second edition, second impression.) The stated "second edition" was not published until November 8. Issued without half title. See Grolier 100 63. Todd 53c. Early owner ink signature ("Th. Cotton") on early flyleaf.

Text quite clean; binding beautiful. A lovely uncut copy.