History and Society

A lament for the decline in wealth of south west England, striking a strong chord with post-Covid concerns about provincial poverty in England and addressing still current issues about apprenticeship and the problems associated with the seasonal nature of farming. The author argues that not only is reform to employment laws necessary, but also that trade is threatened by suffering ‘under a Load of Taxes, laid on Industry instead of Luxury’.
This scarce broadside is written in response to ‘An act for the encouraging industry in the kingdom, by removing certain disabilities and restraints contained in several former Acts’. The author laments the decline of trade in his West Country town, which he blames on the restrictive practices of the corporation and the apprenticeship rules of the various trades. He argues strongly for the abolition of privileges of corporations, companies, apprenticeships whose restrictions do such harm to local communities.
‘The Effect of the Statute of Queen Elizabeth, which forbids all Persons to employ themselves in various Trades, who have not been Apprentices to them, is plainly this; that none learn any of those Trades, but Boys; and that none exercise them during their Lives, but such as chanced to begin with them. Now... particular Trades usually depend on such a variety of Circumstances, both in our own and foreign Nations, that it is scarce possible for them to continue many Years without Increase or Decrease. And whenever there is either a larger or less Demand, than has been usual, for any kind of Manufacture; that Manufacture must, under this Regulation, either want Hands, or be over-burdened with them. But it is equally detrimental to the Nation, that there should be Work without Workmen, or Workmen without Work’.

An excellent, unsophisticated copy of this scarce speech given by the colourful and unfortunate William Dodd, poet, dramatist, cleric and forger. A prolific author, in addition to his theological works, Dodd wrote several plays, numerous poems, including The African Prince, 1749 (telling the story of the rescued slave, William Ansah Sessarakoo), a ‘rather loose novel’ called The Sisters, 1754 and a compilation, The Beauties of Shakespeare, thought to be where Goethe first discovered Shakespeare. Dodd’s greatest success lay in his powers of oratory. He was enormously popular and effective as a preacher and his sermons on behalf of charities, such as the ‘Magdalen House’, were much praised. Horace Walpole wrote in his Letters (iii, 282) that Dodd spoke ‘very eloquently and touchingly’, in the French style, and that many of his hearers were reduced to tears. However, scandal and increasing personal debt led him to forge a bond in the name of his patron, Lord Chesterfield, and he was arrested, committed for trial and convicted in February 1777. A flurry of pamphlets followed and there were numerous petitions on his behalf, one of which bore the signatures of twenty-three thousand people. Dr. Johnson tried to obtain a pardon for him, wrote several papers and petitions in his defence and wrote a sermon for him, which Dodd preached to his fellow-prisoners in Newgate chapel on 6th June. He was executed on 27th June 1777.
The scarce pamphlet gives a short history of masonry and a celebration of its achievements. The final four leaves contain, after a separate title-page but with continuous register, ‘Proposals for printing by subscription, Free-masonry: or, a general history of civilization. In which the rise and progress of arts, sciences, laws and religion, will be detailed: together with an account of the lives of such sages and philosophers, eminent men and masons, as have added to the improvement and cultivation of mankind’. This larger work on the history of freemasonry, intended to have been two volumes quarto, was never produced. At the foot of the title-page is the note: ‘Any profits arising from the sale of this Oration, will be given to the Hall fund’.

An important anti-Catholic proclamation issued just a few weeks after the landing of William of Orange at Brixham in Devon and the day before James II fled England. The order requires that all Catholics, with a few exceptions, leave London within five days. The family of Alexander Pope was one of those affected but Pope himself was only a baby at the time.
‘The Lords Spiritual and Temporal... considering the great Mischiefs that have happened unto, and do still threaten this Kingdom, by the evil Designs and Practices of the Papists, in great numbers resorting unto, and abiding in the City of London, and places adjacent to the said City; For the better preservation of the Peace and common Safety, have thought fit, and do Order and Require, That all Papists, and Reputed Papists do, and shall, within Five Days after the Date hereof, depart from the said City, unto their respective Habitations; from which they are not to remove above Five Miles distance’.

A scarce broadside proclamation forbidding the use of fireworks or the lighting of bonfires on public holidays. Issued during the reign of Charles II when the November celebrations of the Gunpowder plot had become rather out of hand. Effigies of the Pope were regularly paraded and burnt at Temple Bar and anti-Catholic feeling in the capital was high, but the demonstrations were unscructured and increasingly violent.
‘By 1682 the November activities had lost their theatricality and flaunting mockery, and degenerated into rowdy confrontations. Gunpowder Treason day took on a sullen, festering mood with an air more of grievance than celebration. The Popish Plot had unravelled. No parliament was sitting, and the legislative road to exclusion was blocked. In terms of high politics the Whigs had lost their advantage, but anti-Catholic sentiment ran hotter than ever in the streets of London. Popular protest tied to Protestant anniversaries reached fever pitch in November 1682. There were no formal processions, now that the Whigs had crumpled and had their patronage withdrawn, but gunpowder Treason bonfires abounded. Energies that had been channelled towards ritual performance were now free to spill over into uncontrolled violence. Orchestration gave way to anarchy. In London the trained bands were readied and their numbers strengthened. Orders were issued ‘for preventing tumultuous disorders’ but with little effect’ (David Cressy, Bonfires and Bells, California 1989, p. 182).

A scarce proclamation that led to the arrest and wrongful execution of Blessed John Gavan (1640-1679). Born in London to a family originally from Wiltshire, Gavan was educated at the Jesuit College at St. Omer and returned to take up his mission in Staffordshire, one of the strongholds of the Catholic faith in England. He took his final vows in 1678 at Boscobel, home of the Penderell family. Soon afterwards Stephen Dugdale learnt of the ceremony and accused all those present of plotting to kill the king. Dugdale was a much more convincing talker than Titus Oates had been and his accusation was readily believed, resulting in this warrant for the arrest of those involved. Gavan fled to London where arrangements were being made to smuggle him out of England when he was denounced by a spy called Schibber and he was arrested on 29th January. During his trial on 13th June, Gavan proved himself an excellent speaker, exposing the inconsistencies of the case against him. Nonentheless a verdict of guilty was brought in and Gavan, along with four others, was condemned to death and executed at Tyburn on 20th June. A large crowd assembled for the execution and is said to have stood in respectful silence during the hour long speeches from the victims and the final act of contrition led by Gavan.
In addition to John Gavan, the proclamation calls for the arrest of several other Catholic priests, offers rewards for their apprehension and warns that anyone caught helping them will be guilty of high treason. The highest reward, of one hundred pounds, is offered for the capture of Francis Evers, alias Ewrie, alias Ireland. The other priests named on the document are Vavasor, alias Gifford, Edward Levison (Jesuits) and Broadstreet (’a Popish Priest’) for each of whom a reward of fifty pounds is offered. Each of the men listed are accused of being ‘guilty of late Damnable and Treasonable Plot for destruction of the Kings Royal Person, the Subversion of his Government, and for the Extirpation of the True Protestant Religion Established by Law within this Kingdom’.
‘And his Majesty doth hereby straitly forbid and prohibit any of his Subjects from Concealing, Sheltering, Relieving, or Receiving any of the said Offenders, under Peril of being themselves proceeded against (as by Law they may) for the Crime of High Treason’.
Francis Evers had known Stephen Dugdale in the early years after his conversion to Catholicism and before he became a key informer in the Popish Plot. Despite the generosity of the reward offered here, neither he nor Edward Leveson were taken. ‘Of seven other Jesuits living in Staffordshire during the Popish Plot frenzy only two avoided arrest, Francis Evers and Edward Leveson, despite a proclamation of 1679 putting a price of £100 on Evers and £50 on Leveson; Evers escaped to St. Omer for a time’ (Michael W. Greenslade, Catholic Staffordshire 1500-1850, p. 139).

A scarce proclamation for the year 1678 setting out the fixed prices for all kinds of wines. The different kinds of wine are all listed with the set price above which it is illegal to charge without penalty. The wines specified in the text are ‘Canary, Tents and Malagaes, Allecants, Sherries and Muscadels, French wines and Rhenish wines’. In each case the wholesale as well as the retail price is given, so that, for example, ‘Allecants, Sherries and Muscadels, be sold in Gross at Twenty seven pounds the Butt, and Nine pence the Pint by Retail’. Allowances are made for the pricing of wines that have to be transported more than ten miles from the port of entry.

An excellent, fresh copy of the first French translation of Wallace’s Dissertation on the numbers of mankind in antient and modern times, first published in Edinburgh in 1753. ‘An acute and suggestive contribution to economics’ (Alexander Gordon in DNB), the work included a vigorous though unsuccessful attack on Hume’s Political Discourses, notably on his chapter on the ‘Populousness of Ancient Nations’. This French translation was made under the supervision of Montesquieu. A further English edition was published with a prefatory memoir in 1809.

A delightful uncut copy in the original pink and white lithographed covers, with the beautiful folding hand-coloured aquatint frontispiece. This scarce work on spa baths in Thetford was written by Frederick Accum, a London chemist and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. It was produced to advertise the new commercial spa venture established in the same year to exploit a chalybeate spring in the city, known since 1746. The dedication praised the Mayor’s and inhabitants’ efforts ‘in bringing the mineral spring of Thetford, for its healing virtues inestimable, yet suffered long to remain neglected and unknown, into celebrity and use’ through the construction of a new pump-room and baths. After providing accounts of the topography and history of Thetford, Accum discussed the chemical and medical properties of the mineral water as well as the most effective ways to take spa baths (e.g., hot or cold, according to the conditions to be treated), supported by testimonials of men and women who had benefited from the Thetford treatments.
‘One of the rarest works by Accum on Thetford Spa in Norfolk with details of the analysis if the waters at pp. 55-76. The only title cited by Waring on Thetford Spa. Not listed in any of the chemical bibliographies except Smith’ (Neville I, p. 7).

One of several versions of the general pardon issued by James II at the start of his reign concerning crimes against the state prior to his accession. The pardon was issued with certain notable exceptions, particularly regarding Catholics. Mentioned by name as specifically excluded from the pardon are several of those implicated in the Popish Plot, including Titus Oates, Francis Charleton, John Wildman and Robert Peyton. Specific crimes of a notorious nature are also excluded and set fines already agreed in court are not to be lifted. Furthermore, anyone fleeing justice is given until 1st January 1689 to hand themselves over to the Chief Justice or a Justice of the Peace.

A poignant letter written by King James the night before he set sail from Rochester. He sets out his reasons for flight, complaining of the treatment he had received in London at the order of the Prince of Orange, who had arrested Lord Feversham, taken possession of the posts at Whitehall and sent three Lords to him at one in the morning commanding him to leave his palace the next morning.
‘After all this, How could I hope to be safe, so long as I was in the Power of one, who had not only done this to me, and Invaded all my Kingdoms without any just occasion given him for it, but that did by his first Declaration lay the greatest Aspersion upon me that Malice could invent, in that Clause of it which concerns my Son... I was born Free, and desire to continue so; and tho I have ventured my Life very frankly, on several Occasions, for the Good and Honour of my Country and am as free to do it again... yet I think it not convenient to expose my self to be Secured, as not to be at Liberty to Effect it; and for that reason do with-draw’.

The first French translation of this interesting anti-Jesuit pamphlet, originally published in Latin as Monarchia solipsorum in Venice in 1645. Written under the pseudonym Lucius Cornelius Europeus, this satire exposes the vices of the Order. For a long time attributed first to the Jesuit, Melchior Inchofer, it is now generally thought to be by Giulio Clemente Scotti, a disaffected Jesuit said to have been unfairly overlooked for the post of professor of Theology by his superiors. The work attacks the corruption, lies and calumny perceived at the heart of the order as well as criticising the worldly strategy of appointing only young men from wealthy families in order to benefit the society in the long term. It is preceded by an introduction which provides details on Inchofer and the political background of the satire. The Jesuits searched everywhere for this book in order to suppress it. The translation and the prefatory remarks are by Pierre Restaut (1696-1764).

A very scarce early edition of Coyer's famous work, one of several published the same year as the first edition, bound together with three other related works. Coyer’s argument that the French nobility should take charge of commercial enterprises provoked widespread debate and numerous printed responses. The present copy is bound with two attacks on Coyer’s work and Coyer’s subsequent defence of his position. The first attack is the chevalier d’Arcq’s La Noblesse Militaire, a refutation of Coyer’s work, in which he argues that the natural profession of nobility is military. 'Ne pas écarter la noblesse de sa vocation propore qui est l'art militaire. Par ailleurs, le développement de notre commerce a des limites.' (JNED). The second attack is the less well-known Le Commerce Ennobli by an obscure writer called Seras, the crux of whose argument is the indigence of the nobility: ‘La Noblesse, comme les corps organisés, perd sans cesse par la dissipation; il lui faut de même un suc nourricier qui répare ses pertes. Si elle dissipe & ne répare pas, elle deviendra un corps fantastique & sans force’ (pp. 16-17).
The final work in this collection is the first edition of Coyer’s Développement et Défence du Systeme de la Noblesse Commerçante, the defense that he wrote against the many criticisms of his system and particularly against the Chevalier d'Arcq's La Noblesse Militaire. ‘Plus littéraire qu'économique. Ce 'système' peut parfaitement exister dans le royaume ; il y va du plus grand intérêt de la France, tant au point de vue du commerce et de l'agriculture que de la population’ (INED, 1227).

The first edition of Voltaire's brilliant historical study of the age of King Louis XIV. Begun as early as 1732, Voltaire sent a manuscript version to Frederic II who was enthusiastic and encouraged its publication. In 1739 Voltaire published a ‘Plan Raisonné’ of the project, including two finished chapters, but this was condemned by the court and seized. In 1750 Voltaire left France for Frederic’s court at Berlin, where he set himself to complete the work. Failing to obtain the ‘privilège royal’ or even the non-written ‘permission tacite’, he decided to go ahead and publish the work in Berlin at his own expence. Voltaire continued to add to the work in subsequent editions, most notably in the 1753 Berlin edition, where he added a supplement in which he refuted the attacks made by La Beaumelle.
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A scarce anonymous pamphlet discussing the satirical verses circulating against François Sébastien de Croix, Count von Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal and one of the Allied generals fighting against the French Revolutionary forces in the 1790s. Written in response to a query about the words of a popular song - part of which our author reproduces at the head of the first letter - the text is effectively an exoneration of Clerfayt’s military actions and character. The second letter deals more generally with the military history of Vienna, concluding with Clerfayt’s impressive stand against Charles Dumouriez: ‘on doit par conséquent le croire militaire philosophe connoissant le coeur humain, en sachant y opérer’ (p. 14).

First published in 1820, this is the second of several editions of this important account of the '45 by the aide-de-camp to the Young Pretender. James Johnstone, known as the Chevalier de Johnstone, joined the Jacobite Army in Perth shortly after the raising of the standard at Glenfinnan in 1745. He was twenty-six years old and ‘as proud of his kinship with Scots nobility as any Highlander’ (John Prebble). He served as aide-de-camp both to Lord George Murray and to Prince Charles Edward, and fought with the Jacobites through the remainder of the campaign. After Culloden, Johnstone had a number of narrow escapes, hid in Edinburgh and London, and finally made his way to Holland disguised as a maidservant to Lady Jean Douglas.

‘A very interesting work, written under the influence of disappointment and ill-humour, and therefore to be read with caution. Some of the stories narrated are altogether fictitious’ (Lowndes).

A lovely fresh copy of a very scarce commentary on the Museum Rusticum, a periodical that was published in monthly parts between 1764 and 1766 and included papers on many aspects of agriculture, technology and science. The anonymous author of these Observations states in his opening remarks that his object is not to censure the ‘useful and pleasing collection’, but to promote its utility. ‘He intends not only to make some few remarks on several papers there, occasionally; but also to add, as he hopes, many useful discoveries of his own - the result of several years practice and experience in agriculture’. The subjects covered range from a lengthy section on hops, some advice on plants and trees that will thrive near the sea, to the culture of winter cabbages for cattle and the improvement of waste land and methods of drainage.
The pamphlet received a long critique in The Monthly Review, which commented ‘Several very judicious oeconomical hints are thrown out, for the young gentleman farmer’s notice, before he begins his Observations on the Museum Rusticum... We are referred to certain papers in the two first Volumes of the Museum, where the same subjects are treated of, - though not altogether to the good liking of our present Author: - who appears to be well versed in the most necessary principles of agriculture’.
The author concludes with a sorrowful note on the closure of the cambric factory at Winchelsea. The manufacture of cambric was a fairly recent introduction to the area, the factory having been established in 1760. ‘What can give greater concern to a person who has his country’s good at heart, than to find any useful manufacture decay, or be discouraged. How far this may be so, I am an utter stranger to, but certainly we all know that a manufacture (especially in the loom way) which gives employment to a great number of the industrious poor, is one of the most valuable acquisitions a neighbourhood can be blessed with. Therefore it is the indispensible duty, and interest, of every individual to promote and establish it’ (p. 52).

An attractive copy in an elegant, contemporary binding, of this important early fishing manual. First published anonymously in 1681, Chetham’s detailed account of the art of fly-fishing reveals a wealth of personal experience and skill and is written in a clear, concise and frequently witty manner. Chetham’s study covers all aspects of the sport, including observations on the most commonly encountered fish, the different lines to be used, descriptions of the dub-flies to be used each month and instructions on protecting the fish and their habitats. Chetham also includes instructions for the dressing of different types of fish as well as numerous recipes for the baking, roasting, frying, broiling and stewing of the catch, together with instructions for such delights as ‘eel pye’ and the recipe for ‘an excellent French bread to eat fish with’.
‘Chetham’s prefaces are in Diogenes’ vein, curt and caustic; he escapes from the category of manual makers, and takes rank as one of the original writers on the sport. He is indebted, indeed, to his forerunners, but acknowledges it; he improves on their systems, and calls attention to the fact. He is never servile, nor plagiaristic, always honest, sometimes a little surly’ (Westwood & Satchell p. 60).
One of two editions of 1700, this is a paginary reprint of the second edition of 1689. This issue has the phrase ‘illustrated with sculptures’ on the title-page and has the two engraved plates, each with six fishes and carrying the imprint ‘Printed for William Battersby at Thavies Inn Gate near St. Andrews Church in Holborn’. Seven of the fourteen errors listed in the errata of the second edition have been corrected. Copies of this work are seldom found in such good condition but are frequently rebacked or rebound and wanting one or both of the plates. Other than a couple of small tears, this is an excellent copy internally and externally.

A handsome copy of this scarce chronology. Written in two parts, the first seems to be the only English edition of Doglioni’s Compendio historico universale, a work which appeared in different forms and numerous different editions. This section has its own title page, immediately following the general title page, in which the sub-title is repeated and extended: ‘The Recovery of Lost Time, being a Compedious Chronology &c.... to our present Age, with the most notorious Remarks that have occurred, Whether Ecclesiastical, Political, Domestick, or Foreign’. This section (pp. 7-33) consists of fairly brief entries, getting more detailed in the later years and ending with the year 1664 (1661: The death of the most eminent French minister of State, Cardinal Mazarin; The overflowing of Rome, by the River Tiber. The Beatification of Francisco de Sales, Bishop of Geneva).
The second and larger section is an anonymous work, also with its own separate title page: ‘England’s Remembrancer. Being a Summary of the Actions, Exploits, Battles, Sieges, Conflicts, and other remarkable Passages that have hapned in any of His Majesties Dominions, from Anno Domini 1600 until the present Year of 1675. Written by a Lover of his King and Country’. Starting in 1600, Nov. 19.: ‘King Charles the First, born at Dunfernling in Scotland’, this section also takes the form of a chronology, though a much more detailed one, mainly concerned with events from the 1640s to 1674. The short bullet points which are used to describe historical events during this turbulent period of history, and the fact that it is being written comparatively soon after the events, give the text an immediacy which makes for a very exciting read.
This work is sometimes wrongly attributed to Samuel Clarke, who wrote another work under the same title.

A scarce history of the office of Justice of the Peace, with remarks on the duties of a justice, the importance of his office and the qualities needed to discharge it. It was first published, in a briefer form and without the dedication, in Leicester in 1771, although that edition is now particularly scarce (ESTC lists the Jesus, Cambridge and the Bodleian only). A further, expanded, edition was published in 1781.
The dedication to Lord Mansfield, said on the title-page to be by another hand, takes up almost half of the work. The author addresses what he perceives as the country’s present degenerate state of manners: ‘The English, my Lord, are not what they were, in the days of their old honest plainness and simplicity: they are become very licentious and very unprincipled people: and it is not only in our Towns, but even in our Villages, that the more Vulgar are with difficulty kept within any reasonable bounds of subjection and order’ (p. ii).

First edition of an important work about the so-called ‘Man in the Iron Mask’, the legendary figure long thought to have been the identical twin brother of Louis XIV. The mysterious man had been a captive of the French government since 1687 and was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1698 until his death in 1703, during all of which time his face had been hidden by a mask. The legend formed part of Dumas's brilliant novel Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, 1846, the most glorious and most dangerous of the adventures of the Three Musketeers, and the story was the subject of the MGM film, ‘The man in the Iron Mask’.
Agar-Ellis's account, extracted from documents in the French archives, was translated into French and published as Histoire authentique du Prisonnier d’Etat, connu sous le nom de Masque de Fer, Paris, 1830. Dumas is known to have read it while he was researching the subject for his novel. Agar-Ellis was led to the conclusion that the masked prisoner was probably the Italian Antonio Ercole Matthioli, born December 1, 1640 at Bologna. Matthioli, an astute, clever man became the Secretary of State to the Duke of Mantua, a province of Italy. Matthioli became powerful and rich but his unscrupulous selling of a treaty drawn up by Louis XIV of France and the Duke of Mantua (whereby Louis pledged to buy the fortress at Mantua) to France's enemies resulted in him being kidnapped by French soldiers and held at Pinerolo for treason. The Duke of Mantua disowned him and Matthioli was kept masked for his own protection. The German historian Wilhelm Broecking came independently to the same conclusion seventy years later.