THE ONLY GENUINE EDITION OF THE SPEECHES OF THE HON. T. ERSKINE, AND S. KYD, ESQ. ON THE TRIAL OF T. WILLIAMS, FOR PUBLISHING THOMAS PAINE'S AGE OF REASON; WITH LD. KENYON'S CHARGE TO THE JURY by [Paine, Thomas] - 1797

London: Printed for Evans and Bone, No. 120, Holborn Hill, 1797. 50pp, stitched into early plain blue wrappers. A spot at the lower corner of the title page and the verso of the front wrapper. Lacks half title and final advertising leaf. Good+.

The trial before Lord Kenyon occurred in June 1797. This item originally appeared in 'The Speeches of the Hon. Thomas Erskine,' published by Debrett, also in 1797. Williams published and sold Paine's 'Age of Reason,' which was deemed seditious and heretical. He was indicted for blasphemy. Erskine, of all people, led the prosecution, asserting that, despite his eloquent advocacy of a free press in other cases, he had never sanctioned its "abuse," of which Williams was guilty for promulgating an attack on Christianity. And, indeed, Williams was convicted.
Erskine "had earlier defended Thomas Paine in the sedition charge against his book, Rights of Man." Prosecuting "at the request of the Society Opposed to Vice and Immorality, Erskine acknowledges that he cannot grant the same freedom to attack the Christian religion that he grants to attack the authority of the state" [McCoy].
ESTC T180698 [7]. McCoy E144 [Debrett edition].