Junius. Stat nominis umbra.

London, T. Bensley, 1796-97. Two volumes, Royal 8vo. Contemporary diced calf, spine ornamented and lettered in gilt, marbled edges and endpapers; pp. [4], xxxix, 274; [4], 319, title-pages engraved, with 20 portraits, stipple-engraved by William Ridley, wood-engraved vignettes by of after Bewick; light wear to extremities, offsetting from illustrations, otherwise very good. A finely produced edition of the famous anonymous Junius letters, a satirical attack on the British political establishment. 'The authorship of the Junius letters has been the subject of innumerable publications of various merit. The case for Philip Francis, first proposed by John Taylor in 1816, has established itself as by far the most probable, though categorical proof is still not forthcoming' (ODNB). Sir Philip Francis (1740–1818) was a Dublin-born politician, political writer, and chief clerk at the war office, when a series of anonymous political satires started to appear in 1768 in the Public Advertiser, signed 'C'. The first authorized edition in book form had appeared in 1772 and the book remained in print and relevant for almost 100 years.