The Age of Reason
Following Williams's sentence of one year's hard labor for publishing "The Age of Reason" in 1797, no editions were sold openly in Britain until 1818, when Richard Carlile included it in an edition of Paine's complete works. Carlile charged one shilling and sixpence for the work, and the first run of 1,000 copies sold out in a month. He immediately published a second edition of 3,000 copies. Like Williams, he was prosecuted for seditious libel and blasphemous libel. The prosecutions surrounding the printing of "The Age of Reason" in Britain continued for 30 years after its initial release and encompassed numerous publishers as well as over a hundred booksellers.