[Rarebooks] fa: THE PEOPLE'S ANSWER TO THE COURT PAMPHLET… re. the PRINCE OF WALES - 1787

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 15. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/j635f58

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


The People's Answer to the Court Pamphlet: Entitled A Short Review of the Political State of Great Britain. London: Printed for J. Devrett, opposite Burlington-house Piccadilly, MDCCLXXXVII [1787]. FIRST EDITION. Disbound pamphlet, 8vo (22 cm); [2], 50 pp. (lacking the half-title page). ESTC T43848; Kress B1313; Sabin 60819.

A lively defense of the Prince Regent, the future George IV, in response to Nathaniel Wraxhall's Short Review of the Political State of Great Britain, a pamphlet which attacked the prince's antipathy toward Warren Hastings, among other faults. The People's Answer (sometimes attributed to Sir Philip Francis, author of the "Junius" letters) scathingly parodies Wraxhall and other hangers-on in the court of the prince's alienated father, George III: "This Review of Politics… may be considered as a sort of handy manual for the Levee; a kind of Almanac Royal… lightly touching on the topicks most in vogue, and sketching out handy sentences for the Lords of the Bedchamber to recall, or the Maids of Honour to scribble on their fans." The two pamphlets went through numerous editions and the person who probably profited the most from the ruckus was J. Devrett, the publisher of both.

Uncommon in the first edition. Short closed tear to the fore-edge of the title-page, occasional scattered light spotting and touches of soiling, else clean and sound, securely bound.