Printed Books & Manuscripts (Online Only)

[AMERICANA]. PORCUPINE, Peter [pseudonym of COBBETT, William (1763-1835)]. Sammelband of five pamphlets by “Peter Porcupine”. Various 8vo sizes. Including The Scare-Crow; Being an Infamous Letter… Philadelphia: William Cobbett, 1796. Second edition. -- Observations on the Emigration of Dr. Joseph Preistley. Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford, 1795. Third edition. -- A Kick for a Bite… Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford, 1795. First edition. -- A Little Plain English Addressed to the People of the United States… Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford, 1795. First edition. -- A New-Year’s Gift to The Democrats… Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford, 1796. First edition. -- Letters of Suplicius, on the Northern Confederacy. London: William Cobbett, 1801. First edition. -- Bound in one volume, half nineteenth-century burgundy morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt (recased, worn, soiled, some occasional soiling, wear to text). Bookplate of the Queens Borough Public Library on front pastedown. Signature of New York property owner Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778-1847) on title-page of Letters of Suplicius. Cobbett was an English journalist, pamphleteer, and eventually a politician (he became a Member of Parliament in 1832). He campaigned for Parliamentary reform, easing of taxes on farmers and the poor, and advocated for democratic causes, thus occasionally causing him to flee to the United States, or suffering incarceration in the U.K.