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THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP that the United States has with the United Kingdom
goes back a long way. Even in the run-up to the Declaration of Independence
and during the subsequent war, many British politicians, lawyers, clergymen
and pamphleteers told George III's ministers: "Your repressive measures against
the American Colonies are not justified! Our kinsmen are only asking for their
rights as Englishmen. "
This book is in effect two in one. One part shows how some London bookseller-publishers,
together with their authors, were able to support the case for the American
revolutionaries, as they were forced to become. In particular, it tells the
story of John Stockdale and his relationship with four American Presidents,
and two early American authors.
It also gives a unique, intimate account of an eighteenth-century bookshop at
work, revealing at the same time the problems of the emerging United States
booktrade. It is an important book for readers of American and British history
and for those who respect the Freedom of the Press.
Foreword
Eric Stockdale's historical work, 'Tis Treason, My Good Man!, illuminates one
of the least known but most interesting corners of history: that concerning
American propaganda before and during the War of Independence, much of it written
by English authors. With unique insight and the trained eye of a lawyer, the
author takes the reader back to the turbulent years in London just before, during
and after the American Revolution. Weare introduced to a few, stout-hearted
publisher/booksellers who dared print the colonists' side of The Great Dispute,
in dire risk to their life and liberty. We learn about the byzantine tangle
of British politics and the men who pushed England's famed Freedom of the Press
to Lord North's and the king’s great distress.
We are introduced to a cast of historic characters, both heroes and villains:
Prime Ministers, Attorneys-General, Members of Parliament and 'bloody revolutionaries
of the worst sort!' Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Henry Laurens,
Tom Paine and other radicals, all step forth and take their place in these times
'that try men's souls'. We come to understand the quiet courage and audacity
of men like John Almon, John Stockdale and other pro-American booksellers, and
the deadly edge of treason they had to tread. With excellent scholarship and
research the author, a retired English Circuit judge, presents to the reader
a comprehensive picture of John Stockdale, a remarkable English publisher/bookseller
of Americana and his trans-Atlantic book trade.
This work will be enjoyed by enthusiasts of the Age of Enlightenment, American
Revolutionary history, of British printing history and all those interested
in Freedom of Speech and of the Press.
John
Lewis von Hoelle
Cover
Design by John von Hoelle and Angela Werner Engraving by E. Meissonier, 1857
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