London: Printed for J.S. Jordan, 1792. First Edition. Bound with the fifth edition of Part I (printed by Jordan in 1791). Contemporary calf; dried and worn; outer joints breaking; aside from an occasional minor spot, the contents are in excellent condition. In a custom quarter-morocco clamshell box. The first edition of Part I, suppressed by its original publisher, is so rare as to be considered unobtainable; Jordan re-issued it and published the second part, a far more important work. Paine moved to France before the book was published, a fortuitous re-location as he was tried and convicted in absentia for seditious libel and was never able to return to England. Jailed for a while in France, he was invited back to this country by Jefferson and was able to live out his final years in New York.

[Book #21615P]