[Rarebooks] fa: CASE OF THE £10 FRANCHISE 1835 (Ersatz legal brief re. Corporations Act)

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, July 28. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/k5tldpv

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.



Case of the £10 Franchise against the Household Suffrage of the Corporation Bill. [London:] Vacher & Son, Stationers, [1835]. Folio (34.5 cm), two  leaves (4 pp.), folded as issued. Mild browning to the front panel, some light creasing and edge-wear, otherwise clean and sound.

Highly unusual pamphlet laid out, printed, and docketed in the form of a legal case. The anonymous author argues against expanding the vote in municipal elections to all householders. The 1832 Reform Act enfranchised only the more substantial of the citizenry, "to unite the middle classes of society in defence of the Constitution"; further extension of the franchise would be dangerously radical, and statistics are produced to establish that "the £10 class will be sacrificed to those greatly below them." Very uncommon: not found in WorldCat, Copac, etc.