[Rarebooks] 1642 British Civil War Pamphlet, the "single most influential tract of the period"

[Michael John Thompson]

1642 British Civil War Pamphlet, the "single most influential tract 
of the period"

PARKER, Henry (1604 -1652), English barrister and political writer in 
the Parliamentarian cause.

OBSERVATIONS UPON SOME OF HIS MAJESTIES LATE ANSWERS AND EXPRESSES. 
London, 1642. The second edition, corrected from some grosse errors 
in the Presse. Quarto, 47 + [1] pp (last p. blank), collated: A-F4, 
complete. Caption title, head and tail pieces; initial letter. 
Imprint and date of publication from Wing.
Neatly bound  into a plain modern wrapper titled on spine. Mild 
stains, a fine copy. The book could easily be removed and put into a 
nicer binding.

Parker was a major figure as a propagandist and pamphleteer, "the 
most influential writer to defend the parliamentary cause in the 
1640s". He provided the "ideological ballast for resistance" to the 
crown. He operated on behalf of the "coalition" of aristocrats and 
gentry who took over in the Long Parliament. He formulated a theory 
of sovereignty for the side of Parliament in its conflict with 
Charles I of England, based on the consent of the people. He was a 
cousin of the regicide, James Temple. He was secretary to the 
Parliamentary Army in 1642, and secretary to the House of Commons 
with John Sadler in 1645. At the same time he was secretary to Robert 
Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, who emerged in 1642 in a prominent 
position as Parliamentary military leader.

Parker's Observations upon some of his Majesty's late answers and 
expresses (1642) has been called the "single most influential tract 
of the period", and spawned many responses, including one by John 
Milton, A REPLY TO THE ANSWER (Printed by His Majesties Command) TO A 
PRINTED BOOKE INTITULED  OBSERVATIONS UPON SOME OF HIS MAJESTIES LATE 
ANSWERS AND EXPRESSES, London, 1642 [1643].

No copy of either the first or second edition has appeared at auction 
in the last 25 years.

http://www.mjtbooks.com/images/books/parker05.jpg

$300  net postpaid.



Biographical data from Wikipedia, thanks much.

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Michael John Thompson
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