The Citizen of Nature, in a series of letters from an American Indian, in London, to his friend at home.

[Henry HORNE, Jr.]

The Citizen of Nature, in a series of letters from an American Indian, in London, to his friend at home. London: ‘published by W. Benbow, 252, Holborn. Johnson, Printer, Brook Street, Holborn’, 1824. 12mo (7 ½ x 4 ½ins; 190 x 114mm), uncut, pp.[i-ii, i-]iv; [1-]238. Condition of the contents: some toning and spotting, marginal in the main, tear to pp.11/12 upper blank margin. Original drab paper-covered boards. Condition of binding: rebacked, part of original label laid down, later endpapers.

First edition, second/ third issue, with title page dated 1824 and no mention of the author’s name; final page of preface dated ‘Feb. 1824’, without the leaf following preface with the five-line apology.  The first issue has a title dated 1823 which mentions the author by name; a preface dated ‘March 1823’ and a leaf following preface with five-line apology ‘The Author informs his friends’ that the book was delayed by ‘peculiar circumstances’. There is also a variant, with the 1824 title, but no preface or ‘apology’ (this may just be incomplete). All three variants use the same setting of the main text (pp.1-238), which is why I describe them as issues.

All three variants are rare on the market - there are currently none for sale, apparently, just two auction listings in the past 100 years. The title is misleading - the 'American Indian' is an example of the literary device of the innocent abroad being used to comment from the point of view of the unsullied observer, and has no equivalent in contemporary fact.

Sabin 13157 (1824 issue).