Common Sense (1776)

Common Sense first appeared anonymously in Philadelphia, printed by Robert Bell, on 10 January 1776. The first edition published in England was reprinted in London for John Almon, whose shop stood opposite Burlington House in Piccadilly, in 1776 (sources date it May or June), a slim pamphlet. Its hallmark is censorship: to avoid charges of libel against the King, Almon cut the passages attacking the monarchy and the British government and left blank spaces in the text where they had stood, and he made some additions of his own. Almon printed four London editions in 1776, issued both alone and with James Chalmers's Plain Truth, with and without a half title, and mixed copies made up from different editions are known, so a London 1776 imprint with blanks does not by itself prove the first.