The Life and Opinions of Thomas Preston, Patriot and Shoemaker; Containing Much that is Curious, Much that is Useful, More that is True, and A Great Deal More, (Perhaps,) than is Expected!

London: Printed for the Author by A. Seale, 1817 . First edition. Cloth. Very Good Indeed. 9" by 5.5". None. The very scarce first edition of the autobiography of nineteenth century shoemaker Thomas Preston. The first edition of this very scarce work. Preston was a radical, and part of the organising committee of the Cato Street conspiracy. Though he was aquitted and not hanged. Had history turned out slightly differently his name would have been famous throughout Britain and beyond. Preston begins his work with the notice that 'in the following pages will be found, a plain, circumstantial, and unexaggerated statement of the Principal Events which have chequered my strange and untoward existence'. He instructs his readers to 'read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest'.Written when the author was forty-three, this work charts the course of the life of a man born to humble origins and 'bound to the profession of which I have been since the victim and slave', namely, shoemaking.A lovely copy of this very scarce work. Rebound in cloth, with endpapers renewed. Externally, fine. Internally, firmly bound. Pages a touch age toned, with light spotting to title page. Pages otherwise generally clean and bright. Very Good Indeed