"A SUBJECT AND A SOVEREIGN ARE CLEAN DIFFERENT THINGS": THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF CHARLES I

CHARLES I. England's Black Tribunal: Containing I. The complete Tryal of King Charles the First… II. The Loyal Martyrology… III. An Historical Register of the Lords…who were slain in Defence of their King and Country… IV. The Loyal Confessors… London: Printed for C. Rivington, 1737. Octavo, 20th-century full tan speckled calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, red morocco spine label, marbled endpapers. $750.

1737 "sixth edition, very much enlarged," of this important account of the trial and execution of Charles I, with engraved frontispiece portrait of Charles.

Contains a wealth of information pertaining to the trial, including an account of the sufferings and deaths of Charles' followers and Charles' famous speech at the scaffold, in which he asserts his belief in the divine right of kings: "[the people's] Liberty and Freedom consists in having of government, those Laws by which their Lives and Goods may be most their own. It is not for having Share in Government: that is nothing pertaining to them: A Subject and a Sovereign are clean different Things." First published in 1660. While the title page claims that the present edition is the "sixth edition, very much enlarged," this popular work was reprinted many times after 1660, including an edition calling itself the "twelfth" as early as 1674. See Wing E-2946.

Expert repair to one corner of title page, not affecting text. A fine copy, handsomely bound.