Rights of Man

FACTORY SEALED - NEW, untouched by human hands. xvi, 269 pages : illustrations (some color), portrait ; 30 cm. . . . . . . . Contains the full text of Thomas Paine?s Rights of Man, Paine?s famous defense of the French Revolution and broadside against Edmund Burke?s conservative critique of it. Written in the early 1790s, Paine argues that political legitimacy comes from the people rather than hereditary monarchy, defends representative government and social reform, and insists that individuals possess natural rights that no government may rightly violate, themes that would echo through later democratic and revolutionary movements. This edition precedes Paine?s text with a modern introduction by novelist Howard Fast, who situates Paine?s arguments in the wider history of republican and radical thought, and it is illustrated with dramatic black?and?white artwork by wood?engraver Lynd Ward, underscoring the work?s polemical and revolutionary character. This ediltion by Easton Press is a full?leather large octavo volume (around 8.25 ? 11 inches), printed on acid?neutral paper and Smyth?sewn for durability, with all page edges gilt, raised bands on the spine, and ornate 22-karat gilt stamping to the spine and boards. It includes a satin ribbon marker and was issued from Norwalk, Connecticut, as a collector?s binding in Easton?s *100 Greatest Books Ever Written* line, designed to function both as a handsome shelf piece and as a sturdy reading copy of Paine?s classic defense of popular rights and constitutional government.…