SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”

[STAMP ACT]. -- [BARRÉ, Isaac (1726-1802), his copy]. Considerations Upon the Rights of the Colonists to the Privileges of British Subjects… New York: John Holt, 1766. 8vo (194 x 120 mm). Irregular pagination as issued. (P. 13 slightly trimmed to text at lower corner). Early half morocco, marbled sides, gilt-lettered spine (extremities rubbed). Provenance: Isaac Barré (ownership signature on last leaf verso, “Col. Isaac Barre”); Library of the New York Law Institute (several rubber stamps including two on title-page); contemporary notation on the title page (“which ought to rouse up British attention”). FIRST EDITION OF THIS EXCEEDINGLY RARE PAMPHLET, last seen at auction in 1970. The author, who is unidentified, urges that the American colonists have every right of free-born Englishmen and warns that any infringement of these rights will be met with sturdy opposition. The Stamp Act was a tax imposed by the British Parliament on the American colonies, requiring them to pay a tax on various printed materials, such as legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards. Isaac Barré, serving as a Member of Parliament, vehemently opposed the Stamp Act during debates in the House of Commons. In his speeches, Barré criticized the proposed tax and expressed sympathy for the American colonies. Notably, he used the term “Sons of Liberty” to refer to the American colonists who were resisting the Stamp Act, and this phrase later became widely adopted by those opposed to British taxation. Barré’s opposition to the Stamp Act and his defense of the American colonists’ rights to govern themselves without undue interference from Britain made him a notable figure in the early stages of the growing tensions between the American colonies and the British government. The Stamp Act would be repealed in 1766, however, it also set the stage for further conflicts that would ultimately culminate in the American Revolutionary War. Adams 25; Evans 10273; Sabin 16034 (“rare tract”).