Nov 17, 2016 - Sale 2432

Sale 2432 - Lot 25

Price Realized: $ 37,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1777.) [Paine, Thomas.] The American Crisis, Number I as printed in the Boston Gazette #1130. 4 pages, 15 1/4 x 10 inches, on one folding sheet; minor dampstaining, worn at folds with slight loss, moderate foxing. Boston: Benjamin Edes, 13 January 1777
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The entirety of page 2 is devoted to "The American Crisis, Number I, by the author of Common Sense." It had first been published in the Philadelphia Journal on 19 December 1776, and then appeared in pamphlet form four days later, soon circulating through the major cities. It begins with the immortal words "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." At the conclusion is a small advertisement: "A few of that excellent pamphlet, intitled Common Sense, may be had of T. & J. Fleet at the Bible and Heart in Cornhill." Other war news in this issue includes an act for establishing a Massachusetts naval office on page 1; and a detailed report confirming victory in the Battle of Trenton on pages 3 and 4.