[Rarebooks] fa: HUNTON'S TREATISE OF MONARCHY w/ A VINDICATION - 1689

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, July 21. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/ngnhewj

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


[Philip Hunton:] A Treatise of Monarchy: Containing Two Parts. I. Concerning Monarchy in General. II. Concerning this Particular Monarchy. Also a Vindication of the Said Treatise. Done by an earnest Desirer of his Countries Peace. London: Printed for E. Smith,  and are to be sold by Randal Taylor, near Stationers-Hall, 1689. First edition thus. Small 4to (21 cm), untrimmed and stitch-bound as issued; [4] + 96 pp. Wing H3783A; ESTC R224181.

The first edition to combine Hunton's Treatise, first published in 1643, with his Vindication published the following year. Both reprinted here, as the publisher's note to the reader explains, "that thou maist avoid imperfect Editions, such as that which was very lately Printed by Richard Baldwin" (1689). Philip Hunton (1604?-1682) charted a middle course between levellers and absolute monarchists, arguing for a system of government in which power was shared jointly by the King, Lords and Commons, foreshadowing the "separation of powers" found in the American Constitution. Despite this moderation, his Treatise was publicly burned at Oxford in 1683.

Soiling to the title-page, the last page and the untrimmed edges of the text block; a few corners slightly bumped and curled; closed marginal tear to one leaf, not touching the text; a few very small spots/stains; otherwise unusually clean, bright and fresh, securely boun