[Rarebooks] fa: ROGER L'ESTRANGE on THE POPISH PLOT, TITUS OATES, &c. 1680 - 3 works in 1

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, June 6. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/ph23o5k

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.



Roger L'Estrange: Discovery upon Discovery, In Defence of Doctor Oates against B.W.’s Libellous Vindication of him, in his Additional Discovery; and in justification of L’Estrange against the same Libell. In a Letter to Doctor Titus Oates. London: Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in S. Pauls Church-yard, 1680. [BOUND WITH] Lestrange’s Narrative of the Plot. Set Forth for the Edification of His Majesties Liege-People. London: Printed by J.B. for Hen. Brome, 1680. [BOUND WITH] A Further Discovery of the Plot: Dedicated to Dr. Titus Oates. London: Printed for Henry Brome…, 1680. Three works in one volume, recently bound in quarter black morocco and paper-covered boards, 4to (20 cm); [2], 38 pp.; [2], 34 pp.; [2], 32, [2] pp.; the terminal leaf of publisher's adverts to the third title, as called for. The first and second are second editions, the last a third edition, all published the same year as the first editions. Wing L1239, L1276, L1254; ESTC R30937, R22030, R41396.

Three separate pamphlets written by the indefatigable L'Estrange at the height of the hysteria surrounding the infamous Popish Plot (1678-81), a fictitious but widely credited conspiracy, concocted by Titus Oates, in which it was alleged that Jesuits were planning the assassination of King Charles II. News of the conspiracy and the subsequent murder of a Westminster magistrate, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, gave rise to popular panic and frenzied anti-Catholic demonstrations, resulted in the execution of at least twenty-two men, and precipitated the Exclusion Crisis, before the "plot" was debunked and Oates convicted of perjury. L'Estrange, like Charles II himself, was always skeptical of the plot, and repeatedly sought to counter the hysteria. In these acidly ironical pamphlets, he attacks the truthfulness of Oates and his associates. Some age-toning to the leaves, light soiling to the title and last leaf of the second work, a few occasional light spots, otherwise the contents are quite clean and crisp, firmly and handsomely bound.

Roger L'Estrange (1616-1704), was a publisher, editor, prolific pamphleteer and pugnacious controversialist, one of England's earliest true journalists and a key figure in the Restoration period. Above all, he was an arch-Royalist and Tory, his fortunes rising and falling with the House of Stuart throughout his long life. Exiled after the English Civil War, he flourished during the Restoration, starting two separate newspapers and receiving a royal appointment as Surveyor of the Imprimery, or censor of the press, a post in which he executed his duties with a ruthless zeal that did not endear him to everyone; he took a seat in Parliament as member for Winchester and was knighted by James II in 1685. With the Glorious Revolution and the coming of William III, however, he lost his influence and offices, was arrested several times, and eventually found it safer to recede from public life and devote his talents to translating foreign works.