Junius. Stat nominis umbra

London: Printed for Henry Sampson Woodfall, 1772. In two volumes. [2], xxxii, vii, [1], 208; [2], 356pp, [38]. Without final blank leaf to index. Engraved title pages. A reissue of Woodfall’s first edition (ESTC T1830) with the addition of a table of contents and an index covering both volumes. Recent half-calf, brown cloth boards, gilt, A.E.G. A trifle marked. Marbled endpapers, very occasional light spotting. An attractively bound set of this particularly finely produced edition of the political letters of 'Junius' to Henry Woodfall, printer and proprietor of a periodical, The Public Advertiser. Composed between 1769 and 1772, the pseudonym masks a well-placed man within the Whig establishment during the ministry of the Duke of Grafton, British Prime Minister 1768- 1770, and that of his successor Lord North. With the aim of exposing the injustices of the administration, and highlighting the rights and freedoms of British individuals, Junius attacked many individuals highly respected within the Whig firmament. Long subject to speculation, the authorship of these significant and embarrassing political letters is now generally attributed to Sir Philip Francis, a clerk in the War Office - but Thomas Paine, Edmund Burke, Benjamin Franklin and Jean Louis de Lolme have all been identified as alternative candidates. ESTC T29288.. First Woodfall edition, second issue.. 12mo.