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First edition of this key text of republican theory, a major influence on the Founding Fathers, and the only 17th-century work to defend explicitly the act of armed rebellion. The Discourses rejects the divine right of kings and argues that the people have the right to ignore bad laws and depose tyrants, with arms if necessary. The Discourses places Algernon Sidney (1623-1683) "alongside Milton as the master of republican eloquence. It is the power of its prose, as much as any aspect of its content, which helps to account for the work's exceptional subsequent impact in Britain, continental Europe, and America. For subsequent influence in Enlightenment Britain, America, the United Provinces, Germany, and France, he had no seventeenth-century rival except John Locke" (ODNB). Thomas Jefferson was one of many influenced by Sidney's ideas. In 1804, he wrote of the Discourses: "They are in truth a rich treasure of republican principles, supported by copious & cogent arguments, and adorned with the finest flowers of science. It is probably the best elementary book of the principles of government. which has ever been published in any language" (Sowerby III: J6). Sidney fought on the parliamentary side in the civil wars. During the Restoration, he spent 17 years in European exile, returning to England in 1677. In 1683 he was embroiled in the Rye House Plot to overthrow Charles II, which led to his trial and execution for treason. The Discourses was written between 1681 and 1683, although there is little evidence to suggest that the work was circulated by Sidney himself. At his trial, the manuscript was cited as evidence of its author's treason, under the (largely invented) maxim "to write is to act". In 1698, the first edition was published by the radical whigs: Blair Worden identifies John Toland (1670-1722) as the most likely editor. A contemporary hand has copied out an epitaph to Sidney by Thomas Brown (1663-1704), a London 'wit', on the final page. ESTC R11837; Lowndes 2394; Marke, p. 953; Sowerby 2330 (edition of 1763); Wing S3761. Folio (319 x 205 mm), pp. [ii], 462, [6]. Contemporary panelled calf, rebacked to style, spine ruled in gilt and with recent red morocco label, edges sprinkled red. Nineteenth-century armorial bookplate of Graham Bower (1779-1844), a Scottish landowner and scion of a Jacobite family, to front pastedown; twentieth-century purple ink stamp of the Grotius Society, a legal society, to head of title page. Errata corrected and printing flaw on p. 452 traced over in manuscript ink. Contemporary markings to front pastedown and free endpaper, and outer margin of p. 294. Inner hinges neatly reinforced, rear free endpaper renewed. Bumping and wear, sporadic minor worming to contents, small hole to D2 and K2, touching text, contents crisp: a very good, generously margined copy.
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