THOMSON, William.

£6,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Man in the Moon; or, Travels into the Lunar Regions, by the Man of the People. First edition of this rare political satire, in which the "Man of the Moon" takes the "Man of the People", a caricature of the then-Foreign Secretary Charles James Fox, on a lunar voyage. During their travels, the pair compare their societies, discourse on reason and morality, dine with Julius Caesar, visit Pandaemonium, and use the Mirror of Truth. The last copy traced at auction was an incomplete one in 1975. By the early modern period, the ancient motif of an anthropomorphic moon had became a well-established character of intrigue, merriment, and scorn, known as "The Man in the Moon". The scientific progress that was made in the years following the cosmic journey of Paradise Lost (1667) led more British writers to imagine space-faring through natural means. Eschewing science for politics, the present work returns to the supernatural roots of the Man in the Moon character in its polemic against the foibles of the British people, politics, and parliament. The real Charles James Fox (1749-1806) earned the title "Man of the People" after becoming the MP for the coveted Westminster constituency, and he later directed the short-lived Fox-North coalition government of 1783, which George III dismissed in favour of the Younger Pitt's premiership. A popular but controversial figure, Fox was outspoken in challenging the king's authority and sympathising with American independence. A broadsheet etching

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