THE 1660 TRIAL OF THE REGICIDES OF CHARLES I, 1713 EDITION

(CHARLES I) [FINCH, Heneage, Earl of Nottingham]. The Indictment, Arraignment, Tryal, and Judgment, at Large, of Twenty-nine Regicides, the Murtherers Of His Late Sacred Majesty King Charles the First, of Glorious Memory… Together with a Summary of the Dark and Horrid Decrees of those Cabbalists, Preparatory to that Hellish Fact. London: J. Walthoe, et al., 1713. Octavo, later full dark brown paneled calf nicely rebacked with original spine and spine label laid down, raised bands. $1500.

Later edition of this contemporary account of the trial of "the murtherers of his late sacred majesty," Charles I, attributed to the prosecuting solicitor-general, with engraved frontispiece portrait of Charles.

Those responsible for the beheading of Charles I in 1649 were not brought to trial until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Heneage Finch, later first Earl of Nottingham, "one of the prosecuting counsel in the trial of the regicides in October 1660… is described in one account as effectually answering Cooke, the framer of the impeachment of Charles I." (Though published anonymously, this account has been attributed to him; he was later appointed Lord Chancellor by Charles II.) Despite the blatant royalist bias of this work's title, Finch's impartial character is a matter of record: "The fact that throughout an unceasing official career of more than twenty years, in a time of passion and intrigue, Finch was never once the subject of parliamentary attack, nor ever lost the royal confidence, is a remarkable testimony both to his probity and discretion" (DNB VII, 11). The defendants, found guilty, were hanged, and all but one were drawn and quartered, their heads stuck on poles for public view; "but the Body of Mr. Hacker was, by his Majesties great favor, given entire to his friends, and buried." First published in 1660, with another edition in 1679. See Wing N1403 (1660 first edition, crediting Nottingham as the author).

Some mild spotting and toning to text; nicely rebacked.