Droits de l'Homme; En Response l'Attaque de M. Burke sur la Revolution Francoise (with) Droits de l'Homme, Seconde Partie,
Paris: Chez F. Buisson, 1791.
Reunissant les Principes et la Pratique. 2 volumes. 8vo, modern 3/4 blue cloth with marbled boards and red morocco spine labels, cloth lightly soiled on both volumes, corners lightly bumped on volume II, scattered light foxing in both volumes, mostly to margins, pp. 179-224 of volume II with thin dampstaining to upper right margins, contemporary ownership signature on margin of title-page of volume I. Paris: Chez F. Buisson, 1791, 1792. First Editions in French.
Volume one of this set was printed in May, 1791, three months after the first edition was printed in London. That first edition was immediately suppressed and most of the copies were destroyed. Later London editions were edited and controversial parts of the original text were omitted. This French translation has the complete original text of the suppressed first edition and was not edited. Volume one contains a new preface by Thomas Paine, specifically for this French edition. "Government exists, Paine said, to quarantee to the individual that portion of his natural rights of which unaided he could not ensure himself. These rights, with respect to which all men are equal, are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression...Part II contains...numerous proposals for social legislation which show that Paine was not unaware of the class struggle. ... (The Rights of Man) was suppressed by Pitt's government, and its author, safe for the moment in France, was tried for treason and outlawed in December, 1792." Dictionary of American Biography XIV, pages 161-162. Complete pagination in both volumes including half-title pages. Howes P-31. Printing and the Mind of Man 241.
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Edition: First
Language: French
Price: $6,500.00
Item #261664