Scarce First Edition Printing of Knox's Response to the Conflict Brewing Between Britain and Colonial America

Knox, William. The Controversy Between Great Britain and Her Colonies Reviewed. London, England: Printed for J. Almon, opposite Burlington-House in Piccadilly, 1769. First Edition. 8 7/8" x 5 7/8" inches. Removed from a book of pamphlets. By the time the Anglo-Irish statesman William Knox (1732-1810) penned The Controversy Between Great Britain and Her Colonies, he was already a well-established pamphleteer of British imperial policy. In previous works, he advocated for a moderate, conciliatory approach to colonists' demands, recommending that parliament appease them to a certain degree. In this polemical tract, however, he diverges suddenly and sharply from his previous position. Sensing a hardening of patriot sentiment and utter revolt in the colonies, he asserts the absolute sovereignty of British rule. In The Controversy, he "produced a legalistic indictment of the various arguments raised against imperial taxation." Missing half-title and appendix. Edges slightly tattered. Large vertical crease on left side of title-page. Paper loss to title page, the spine and bottom lower-corner of title page, not affecting text. Lightly tanned with minimal to no foxing. Sharp print on clean pages. Out of four variants of this edition recorded by the ESTC, this is variant #4, with page misnumberings corrected. Bottom line of the imprint begins: "Piccadilly." This variant has no errata but should contain a half-title. Pamphlet is an important example of British reactions to the American Revolution and marks the development of political theory on British Imperialism. Scarce - at only six libraries in the U.S.