This is a new edition of Edmund Burke's first work, originally issued anonymously in 1756 as a letter attributed to 'a late noble writer'. In 1757 Burke produced a revised version with a new preface but still did not attach his name to the work. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the 1757 revision. The 'Vindication' is a political and social satire ridiculing the popular enlightenment notion of a pre-civil 'natural society'.