[Rarebooks] fa: TO CHARLES II…THE HUMBLE DECLARATION OF JOHN WENLOCK 1662 - in Royal(?) Binding w/ Stuart Arms

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other titles related to the English Civil War, the Stuart kings, and Jacobites, auctions ending MONDAY, October 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/lylcx3a

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


John Wenlock: To the most Illustrious, High and Mighty Majesty of Charles the II: By the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. The Humble Declaration of John VVenlock of Langham, in the county of Essex Esquire, an Utter Barrister of near Forty years continuance, in that Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne. Being first a Supplicatory Preface and discourse to His Majesty; and then humbly shewing the great and dangerous Troubles and intollerable Oppressions of Himself and His Family, and the true occasion thereof, in the wofull Times of these late most unhappy Distractions. Wherein the perfect Loyalty of a true Subject, and the perfideous malice and cruelty of a Rebell, are evidently deciphered, and severally set forth to the publick view in their proper colours, as a Caution for England. Hereunto are annexed certain Poems, and other Treatises, composed and written by the Author upon several Occasions, concerning the late most horrid and distracted Times, and never before published. London: Printed by T[homas]. Childe, and L[eonard]. Parry, for the Author, and are to be sold at most Booksellers shops in London and Westminster-hall, 1662. FIRST EDITION. Small 4to (18.5 cm) bound in period goatskin with gilt-tooled armorial decorations on front and rear, rebacked with the original spine laid down; [12] + 152 pp. (pagination erratic but text is continuous and complete, as issued). Wing W1350; ESTC R8066.

A handsome copy of an unusual work, in a contemporary, possibly Royal, binding: the front and rear covers bear the Royal Arms of the Stuarts, encircled by the Order of the Garter and surmounted by a crown. While not the sort of binding Charles II would have commissioned for his own personal use — those were famously lavish — both he and his brother James II had many books bound in a more "standard" style for the Royal Library at St. James. In any case, the binding is certainly of, or very close to, the period. These Royal Arms (the arms of England quartered with the harp of Ireland and the lion rampant of Scotland), established by James I in 1603 and carried on by the succeeding Stuart kings, were discontinued when James II was deposed and replaced by William and Mary in 1689; after a brief (5-year) reappearance under Queen Anne, these arms were retired forever with the Act of Union with Scotland in 1707. The binding shows some wear to the extremities and edges and some rubbing to the gilt; professionally repaired joints are a bit fragile, but sound; later but not recent owner's signature to the front free endpaper, mild toning to the leaves with some darkening to the edges, a few random small spots, otherwise quite clean and crisp. Uncommon: ESTC locates only five copies in the UK, six in the U.S.

A curious work, in which John Wenlock, a proud, worthy and long-suffering old Royalist, petitions the king's aid in addressing a woeful list of grievances. He's clearly fallen on hard times: the leaf opposite the title page states that "Here the Author did intend to have placed his Effigies and Coat of Arms, but the exact Sculpture thereof being so chargeable, and his Sufferings so great,… he is enforced to be frugal." He goes on to describe, in minute detail and at Homeric length, the many "injust Sufferings of your majesties true and faithfull subject John Wenlock": his misadventures with a "pestiferous Constable"; his misuse by a "Messenger of Satan… a mean mechanical fellow a blacksmith by trade"; the seizure of his cow; the many warrants issued against him; his years as a fugitive in hiding; his arrest as a "lunatick"; etc., etc. Having at last concluded his catalogue of undeserved trials and tribulations, he wraps up the volume with an eccentric collection of verse "which sufficiently shows that, though a loyal gentleman, John Wenlock of Langham, Essex, Esquire, was no nursling of the Muses" (Barrett, Essex: Highways, Byways, and Waterways). It's appealing to imagine this odd little book ensconsed in the Royal Library, keeping company with all those imposing and finely bound histories, Bibles and Books of Common Prayer.