RAYNAL (Guillaume-Thomas). Révolution de l'Amérique. À Londr - Lot 52

RAYNAL (Guillaume-Thomas). Révolution de l'Amérique. À Londres, chez Lockyer Davis, & se vend à La Haye, chez P. F. Gosse, 1781. In-8, xvi-171-(5 blanks) pp. the last blank sheet used as a paste-down endpaper, paperback in dust jacket; volume a little dog-eared with worn spine, first cover almost detached. SEPARATE EDITION, among several published in 1781, of the passages devoted to the birth of the United States in his Histoire philosophique et politique des établissemens et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes, i.e. the last 15 chapters (XXXVIII to LII) of book XVIII of volume IX of the 3rd enlarged edition published in 1780. THE STATEMENTS OF ABBE RAYNAL AND DENIS DIDEROT IN FAVOR OF THE INSURGES, REUNITED IN PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY, PLAYED A LEADING ROLE IN THE SYMPATHY MOVEMENT THAT AROUND EUROPE IN FAVOR OF THE UNITED STATES: the American Revolution is presented as one of the major events of the century, directed against despotism and colonialism. THE WORK AND ITS PRESENT EXTRACT WERE HIGHLY DISCUSSED DURING THE PERIOD, as Abbé Raynal had mixed views on the legitimacy of any rebellion, and made pessimistic prognostications on the future of the United States, even speaking of the programmed degeneration of the colonists on American soil. Benjamin FRANKLIN and Thomas JEFFERSON, who were able to meet Abbé Raynal in Paris, voiced their criticisms: Thomas Jefferson asked his friend Filippo MAZZEI to provide a well-founded response. For his part, the Englishman Thomas PAINE, who had lived in the United States and also in revolutionary France, where he was a member of the National Convention, responded by pointing out that Raynal had never set foot in America, and had made errors of both fact and interpretation.