FIRST EDITIONS OF THE LIVES OF THREE ROYALIST BROTHERS FROM THE EMINENT NORTH FAMILY WRITTEN BY THEIR BROTHER, ROGER NORTH, 1742-44, HANDSOMELY BOUND

(NORTH, Francis, Dudley, and John) NORTH, Roger. The Life of the Right Honourable Francis North, Baron of Guilford, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, under King Charles II. And King James II. Wherein Are Inserted the Characters of Sir Matthew Hale, Sir George Jeffries, Sir Leoline Jenkins, Sidney Godolphin, and Others the Most Eminent Lawyers and Statesmen of That Time. WITH: The Life of the Honourable Sir Dudley North, Knt. Commissioner of the Customs, and Afterwards of the Treasure to his Majesty King Charles the Second. And of the Honourable Reverend Dr. John North, Master of Trinity College in Cambridge and Greek Professor, Prebend of Westminster, and Sometime Clerk of the Closet to the Same King Charles the Second. London: John Whiston, 1742-44. Two volumes bound as one. Quarto, early 20th-century three-quarter burgundy morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, marbled edges, top edge gilt. $1500.

First editions of the biographies of three brothers, all prominent 17th-century Royalists, including one of the main jurists involved in the Popish Plot trials, a prominent merchant and economist, and a head of Trinity College at Cambridge, with two wood-engraved frontispieces, handsomely bound.

"North wrote biographies of three of his brothers, his most ambitious being that of his brother Francis. This Life, his first attempt at biography, was written partly with the aim of defending his brother's reputation in the late 1680s, but also for Francis's son, the young Lord Guilford… As Francis's reputation continued to be attacked in the first two decades of the 18th century, North continued to revise and rewrite his Life, completing the last surviving extant version in the late 1720s" (DNB). While Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford, was both Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and a distinguished lawyer, he was not particularly well-liked. He played an important role in the Popish Plot trials, which resulted from an invented conspiracy in which Catholics were supposedly planning to assassinate Charles II. With anti-Catholic hysteria at a frenzied pitch, even the most distinguished jurists—including Francis—believed in the false plot and twenty-two men were executed for treason. When the tide of public opinion turned, Francis North presided over the trial of informer Stephen College and levied a death sentence, even though the evidence supporting his guilt was widely believed to be circumstantial at best. By the time of Francis North's death at just 47 years old, he had made enemies of many of the major players in the 17th-century British judiciary. Whatever his public reputation, Francis North was Roger North's beloved older brother. Roger North depended on him for financial support and personal guidance. This Life was an attempt to vindicate his reputation and highlight the accomplishments of a distinguished man. Roger North's Life of… Francis North is here bound together with the Lives of two of their other brothers, Dudley and John North, originally published together. Dudley North was a successful businessman who also performed important early analysis of the market economy. John North, on the other hand, was a career academic and Anglican priest (and spider enthusiast) who served as head of Trinity College, Cambridge and oversaw important stages in the construction of the Wren Library. The biographies were each one of 500 copies printed. ESTC T149591, T149592. Armorial bookplate of Augustus Gostling, the ecclesiastical and maritime lawyer.

Interior generally fine, second set of biographies trimmed a bit closely, only light rubbing and faintest staining to binding. A near-fine copy.