First edition. In the early 1790s, William Cobbett, an ex-plowboy and soldier, arrived in Philadelphia and set off a journalistic explosion. In an age of slashing and scurrilous pamphleteering, Cobbett, better known under the pseudonym of Peter Porcupine, proved to be the most hard-hitting, fearless, prolific and irrepressible bully-boy with pen and types that America had ever seen or possibly ever was to see. Pierce Gaines provides an in-depth guide to Cobbett's literary and publishing activities, covering all his writings published in America, all the items he issued as a publisher, and all those that he wrote or published elsewhere but that relate to America. Extracts are furnished from the original publications to convey their character and flavor. Though this is primarily an author bibliography, it also provides a racy account of journalism.