“WITHOUT THE MODEL OF JUNIUS… IT IS QUESTIONABLE WHETHER THOMAS PAINE AND THE AMERICAN GENIUS WHICH SUPERINTENDED REVOLT WOULD HAVE DEVELOPED”
[FRANCIS, Sir Philip]. Junius, Stat Nominus Umbra [The Letters of Junius]. London: T. Bensley, 1797. Two volumes. Royal octavo, original marbled boards with blue paper spines, original orange paper spine labels, uncut; housed in a custom slipcase. $1650.
Early edition, with 16 engraved plates depicting famous political figures including Edmund Burke, John Wilkes, Judge Blackstone, and George III, of this controversial series of letters, a landmark assault on corruption and the abuse of power by George III and the high-ranking ministers of his government, in original boards. "Junius' courage in opposing the tyranny of George prepared the way for the American action of 1776" (Cordasco).
"Junius is a political reformer, malcontent and polemicist. It is in the political ferment, out of which was born the American Revolution, the years 1760-68, that we find his origin and motive… George III's policy of personal government postulated the history of the next 20 years, and his policy inevitably brought on the American Revolt. The value of Junius lies in his unstinting objection to, and exposure of, George and the incompetent ministers the monarch had called to his aid. Junius' courage in opposing the tyranny of George prepared the way for the American action of 1776. Without the model of Junius, who had not feared attacking George in England itself, it is questionable whether Thomas Paine and the American genius which superintended revolt, would have developed" (Cordasco). "It is a work which must always preserve its high place among the classics of England; the author was a first-rate master of the art of rhetorical invective" (Lowndes, 1240). The pseudonymous author of this series of letters, which appeared in the Public Advertiser between 1769 and 1772, is now generally thought have been Sir Philip Francis, who was working in the War Office at the time. With date of 1797 on engraved title pages and 1796 on letterpress title pages. Cordasco, A Junius Bibliography 45. See Rothschild 1282.
Plates and text fine, original paper spines and labels with expert restoration.