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RAYNAL, Abbé. The Revolution of America. London: for Lockyer Davis, 1781. With final advertisement leaf N4. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. ESTC T1893; Howes R-85; Sabin 68104. -- PAINE, Thomas. A Letter addressed to the Abbe Raynal of the affairs of North-America. In which The Mistakes in the Abbe’s Account of the Revolution of America are corrected and cleared up. London: for C. Dilly, 1782. Half-title.  Second English edition. ESTC N10833; Howes P-25; Sabin 58222. -- [WILKES, John]. The North Briton, from No. I. to No. XLVI. Inclusive. With Several useful and explanatory Notes, Not printed in any former Edition [London: at Wilkes’ house, 1763.] FIREST EDITION IN BOOK FORM. ESTC N26370. -- [LEONARD, Daniel]. Massachusettensis: or A Series of Letters, containing a faithful state of many important and striking facts, which laid the foundation of the present troubles in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay…. Boston: for J. Mathews, 1786. ESTC T121877; Howes L-258; Sabin 40100.

 

Together, 4 works in one volume, 8vo (193 x 120 mm). 20th century half calf antique preserving 18th-century flyleaves. Provenance: Samuel Robinson (signature, Newcastle[-under-Lyme], Staffordshire); Samuel Candland (signature, Barlaston, Staffordshire, 1804); 18th-century manuscript note on title of Massachusettensis identifying the author as “a Tory a Ministerialist & a Pensioner.”

 

A sammelband of four 18th-century pamphlets relating to the Revolutionary War, reflecting both Republican and Tory opinions. Raynal’s Revolution of America is excerpted from the Geneva 1780 edition of his Histoire philosophique et politique. The French edition and the English translation were likely both printed in London and issued simultaneously; both were reprinted several times before the first authorized English edition of 1782. The work elicited a response from Thomas Paine, who “objected to Raynal’s claims that the war arose entirely from a dispute over taxation and that peace efforts had been hampered by the Americans’ alliance with France. His Letter…is an exemplary piece of diplomacy” (DNB). Wilkes’ newspaper The North Briton included satirical attacks on the Earl of Bute, George III’s Prime minister, and reflected many of the debates over Britain’s relationship with the American colonies. Leonard’s Massachusettensis was the “most influential early Tory attempt to defend England’s conduct” (Howes).