ACTS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD SESSIONS OF QUEEN ANNE, 1702-03: MANAGING THE WAR WITH FRANCE

PARLIAMENT. Anno Regni Annae… Secondo (& Tertio)… Begun the Twentieth Day of August, 1702… And from thence Continued to the Ninth Day of November, 1703. London: Charles Bill, 1703-(04). Folio, contemporary full brown paneled calf, raised bands. $1200.

First edition of acts supporting the newly-declared war with France.

Anne became Queen of Great Britain on the 8th of March, 1702, and in her first speech to Parliament, declared her “heart to be entirely English.” Acts passed during the second and third sessions were necessarily concerned with the management of the war with France (officially declared on May 4th). Heavy duties were imposed on “Malt, Mum, Cider and Perry,” and inmates were released from debtor’s prison on condition that they serve, “or Procure a Person to Serve,” in the Queen’s fleet or army. Victory at Blenheim and other successes on the Rhine and Moselle were greeted with supply appropriations of “unheard-of liberality for the prosecution of the war” (DNB). Continuously paginated, but with separate title pages throughout. This copy is from the Sessional Volumes of Parliament, the earliest official printings available. Acts printed prior to 1796 are extremely scarce, since the maximum number printed “only slightly exceeded 1,100 copies,” and those were distributed solely to Members of the Houses of Parliament, the great officers and offices of state, and the judiciary (see Report of the Committee for the Promulgation of the Statutes, 1796). Sweet & Maxwell II, 175. Maxwell & Maxwell, 560.

Interior fine. Two small abrasions and light rubbing to contemporary calf.