[Rarebooks] fa: TRUE ACCOUNT of the HORRID CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LATE KING (Charles II) - 1685

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, September 27. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/y27xkyuc

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Thomas Sprat:] A True Account and Declaration of the Horrid Conspiracy against the Late King, His Present Majesty, and the Government: As it was Order’d to be Published by His Late Majesty. In the Savoy [London]: Printed by Thomas Newcomb, one of His Majesites Printers; and are to be sold by Sam. Lowndes over against Exeter-Change in the Strand, 1685. [6], 167, [1] pp.; with the initial imprimatur leaf stating: “James R. Our Will and Pleasure is, and We do hereby Appoint Thomas Newcomb ... to Print this Account and Declaration...”, dated 23 Day of May 1685. ESTC R15283; Wing S5066. [BOUND WITH:] Copies of the Informations and Original Papers relating to the Proof of the Horrid Conspiracy against the Late King, His Present Majesty, and the Government... In the Savoy [London]: Printed by Thomas Newcomb, One of His Majesties printers, 1685. [2], 45, p.48, 47-53, p. 52, p. 49, 54-66, p. 77, 68-69, p. 76, 71-103, 106-126, 119-[122], 131-141, [1] pp. Erratic pagination, with several leaves bound out of order, but complete as per ESTC. Bound without the folding plate. ESTC R492938; Wing S5029A.

Two works bound in one volume, folio (31.5 cm), in modern half morocco, spine lettered in gilt. Minimal ex-library marks: shelving number in gilt at the spine foot, small ink stamp on verso of imprimatur leaf, ink numeral on verso of title-page; no other markings. Imprimatur leaf and final blank repaired and laid down; contents with occasional modest age-toning, a few other old paper repairs, a few scattered small spots, else very clean and crisp, firmly bound. Engraved armorial bookplate of Henry Roper, [8th] Baron of Teynham, dated 1703; later 18th-century signatures of Robert Pitches.

Two works related to the so-called Rye House Plot of 1683, a plan to ambush and assassinate Charles II and his brother, the soon-to-be James II, as they returned to London from the Newmarket races. The plot failed, needless to say, and its discovery led to a brutal crackdown on the government’s opponents and to a series of state trials. These trials featured the depositions and papers collected in the second work, which is presumed to have been edited by the author of the first, Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester.