Reflections on the Revolution in France by BURKE, Edmund - 1790

The Price of Revolution BURKE, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to That Event. In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1790. First edition (Todd's second edition, first impression) of Burkeís controversial attack on the French Revolution. Octavo. iv, 356 pp. Mid-nineteenth-century half brown calf over blue marbled boards. Gilt spine with raised bands and red morocco label. Edges sprinkled red. A little minor soiling. Ink annotation on p. 275. A very good, crisp copy. ìIn 1789 a common perception of the French Revolution was that a freedom and potential stability might ensue similar to that which had been achieved by war in the American Revolution. Burke was swift to point out the essential differences in the two movements: the American colonists had fought to preserve basic English liberties and institutions; the French revolutionaries wished not only to smash and eradicate the monarchy but to obliterate the most basic traditionsî (Christie's New York, May 17, 1996, lot 8). ìAs the Terror grew, Burke seemed almost to be a prophet. In the eternal debate between the ideal and the practical, the latter had never had a more powerful or moving advocate, nor one whose own ideals were higherî (Printing and the Mind of Man). Published on 1 November 1790, Burkeís Reflections achieved immediate success. This copy is the second (published ca. 2 November 1790) of a number of impressions printed within days of each other, with only slight variations. Todd calls this the second edition, first impression (ìThough in part identical with a, this may properly be called a new edition, since it is substantially of a new settingî). Grolier, 100 English, 63. Printing and the Mind of Man 239. Rothschild 522. Todd 53b. HBS 66466. $2,000