"That all may know the truth; and that the truth may make us free!"

The Watchman. Numbers I-X [all issued].

Bristol: Published by the Author, 1 March - 13 May 1796.

Price: $9,000.00

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About the item

First edition. 324 pp. 8vo. "That all may know the truth; and that the truth may make us free!" Contemporary green half-calf and marbled boards, spine gilt in panels. Minor staining to a few leaves. Ashley I, p.196; Tinker 677; Wise Coleridge 7. Provenance: Derby Mechanics' Institute (deaccession stamp to final leaf).

Item #305349

First edition of Coleridge's political journal, undertaken to "create a rallying point for the Unitarians and moderate democrats in a radical Christian journal" (Holmes vol 1 p 106). Issued every eight days in order to avoid the tax levied on weekly papers. Each issue carried the tag line, "That all may know the truth; and that the truth may make us free!" For all its ambition, the enterprise folded after ten issues as it was unable to cover its costs. Coleridge would undertake another single-author journal with The Friend (1809-10; 1819).