The Works, in Verse and Prose, of the Late... With Notes. To Which Are Prefixed, Sketches of His Life, Character and Writings.
first edition
1812 · Boston
by Paine, Robert Treat, Jun. Esq.
Boston: Printed and Published by J. Belcher, 1812. First Edition. Octavo, calf, calf label, lxxxviii, [1-5], 6-464 pp., errata. Label and head of spine are chipped, upper margin of pp. xv-lxv are wormed, not effecting text. From Fullerton’s Selective Bibliography of American Literature, 1775-1900: Paine, widely acclaimed in New England as the leading American poet of his day, chiefly, perhaps, because he had no notable competitor -- was born in Taunton, Mass., was graduated at Harvard, and practiced law in a sort of desultory way, while devoting himself to poetry and the stage. Though estranged from his family because of his marriage to an actress, and thereafter something of a social vagabond, he was called upon as poet for all sorts of public occasions. Paine first became a celebrity with the appearance of his “Adams and Liberty,” a patriotic song which in its original boradside form is rarely found. His odes and heroic verses, though in reality essentially labored, pompous and quite lacking in spontaneity, true sentiment or imagination, were at the time universally accepted as the outpourings of native genius. (Inventory #: 4489bd)