Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

A new edition.

Item Description

12mo. 6.75 x 4.25 inches. [2] +xxii + 284 pp. + [16] pp. index. Bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spine decorated gilt, with contrasting title label. Marbled endpapers. Some age related wear to extremities including edges and corners and hinges just starting to crack; otherwise a very good clean copy. A collection of sixty nine letters critical of the government from an anonymous polemicist styled Junius, as well as other letters in-reply from people to whom Junius had written between 1769 and 1772. The authorship of the Letters has been much debated, but many point to Philip Francis 1740-1818) a prominent politician and political writer of the day, one of the most important pieces of evidence being that Francis was present at the debates in question. Junius launches a vehement and scathing invective against the policies of George III and the Prime Ministers, the Duke of Grafton and Lord North. The letters are famous for their literary power and slanderous attacks and take the side of the common man, supporting his rights in a regime where Crown and Parliament did not. The collection was published in two volumes in 1772 by Henry Sampson Woodfall, the owner and editor of a London newspaper, the Public Advertiser The collection includes 69 letters, 29 to the printer of the Advertiser originally intended for public readership, with the remaining forty to individuals, subsequently made public.