American Independence

[Paine, Thomas.] Common Sense: addressed to the inhabitants of America... Philadelphia, printed: London, reprinted for J. Almon, 1776--Candidus [Chalmers, James]. Plain Truth: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America. Philadelphia printed; London reprinted, for J. Almon, 1776, second edition, corrected, half-title with advertisement on verso--Price, Richard. Observations on the nature of civil liberty, the principles of government, and the justice and policy of the war with America. Edinburgh: for J. Wood and J. Dickson, 1776, eighth edition, newly corrected [Adams, 76-118r]; Additional Observations on the Nature and Vlue of Civil Liberty, and the War with America... for T. Cadell, 1777--[Blacklock, Thomas.] Remarks on the nature and extent of liberty, as compatible with the genius of civil societies; on the principles of government and the proper limits of its powers in free states; and, on the justice of the American war... Edinburgh: for W. Creech and (London:) T. Cadell, 1776 [Adams, 76-15]--Mauduit, Israel. Remarks upon Gen. Howe’s account of his proceedings on Long-Island, in the extraordinary Gazette of October 10, 1776. for Fielding and Walker, 1778, without half title--Pulteney, William. Thoughts on the Present State of Affairs with America...the third edition. For J. Dodsley and T. Cadell, 1778, ownership signature of William Forbes--An Answer to the Declaration of the American Colonies...the fifth edition. For T. Cadell, 1776--Wesley, John. A Calm Address to our American Colonies...a new edition. R. Hawes [Adams, 75-155e, THREE COPIES ONLY RECORDED BY ESTC], somewhat soiled--[Chandler, Thomas Bradbury.] What think ye of the Congress now? or, an enquiry, how far the Americans are bound to abide by, and execute, the decisions of the late Continental Congress. With A plan, by Samuel Galloway, Esq; for a proposed union between Great-Britain and the colonies. New York, printed by J. Rivingston: London, reprinted for Richardson and Urquart, 1775, half-title, final leaf of advertisements [Adams, 75-22b]--[Chandler, Thomas Bradbury.] A Friendly Address to all Reasonable Americans...New York, printed: London, reprinted for Richardson and Urquhart, 1774 [Adams, 72-20b]--[Leonard, Daniel.] Massachusettensis: or a series of letters, containing a faithful state of many important and striking facts, which laid the foundation of the present troubles in the province of the Massachusetts Bay... Boston printed: London reprinted for J. Mathews, 1776, fourth edition [Adams, 75-76f]--Consolatory Thoughts on American Independence...Edinburgh: James Donaldson, 1782 [Kress 12258; Sabin 96076], PRESENTATION COPY FROM THE AUTHOR INSCRIBED TO SIR WILLIAM FORBES ON TITLE PAGE; and many others, similar, all from the time of the American War of Independence, authors including Josiah Tucker, Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, David Hartley, Joseph Galloway (Letters to a Nobleman... 1779, with folding plan of the operations of the British and Rebel army in the Campaign, 1777), Henry Clinton (including the campaign in North Carolina); 4to and 8vo, some with William Forbes' ownership signature, late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century quarter calf, marbled boards (spines numbered 1-6), some wear to bindings (6)

The Forbes Baronetcy was created in 1626 for Sir William Forbes (d. circa 1650) by James VI in the Barontage of Nova Scotia. The majority of the works offered here were acquired by the sixth Baronet, also William (1739-1806), who added Pitsligo to his title in 1781. He was an eminent Scottish banker and benefactor, good friend of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson (see lots 45-46), and finally succeeded in recovering the Pitsligo estates forfeited after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. His son William, the seventh baronet, beat Sir Walter Scott to the hand of the renowned beauty Williamina Belsches Stuart (1776-1810), and it was with their marriage that the family moved to her family seat, Fettercairn House in Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire.

One of the sixth baronet’s acquisitions for his library at Pitsligo were numerous highly important miscellanies and tract volumes, many of which were purchased as a set from Edinburgh bookseller Elphinstone Balfour in October 1786. These were subsequently supplemented by further contemporary tracts and other works from the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century. Most of these miscellanies bear a nineteenth century Forbes family bookplate.

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The first two items comprise the second edition of Paine's Common Sense (arguing for American independence) and the anonymously published Plain Truth (arguing against). The author of the loyalist response to Common Sense was a wealthy planter from Maryland, with a prose style rich in literary and historical references, contrasting vividly with the Paine's plain language.