1648 ISLES OF SCILLY English Civil War RARE ROYALIST NEWS-BOOK Military History

  
NEWS-BOOK REPORTS FROM SCILLY, SCOTLAND AND SCARBOROUGH. A great victory Obtained by the kings forces in the West of england At the Island of Silley. And the full particulars of the great and bloudy Fight between the Parliaments Forces and the Cavaleers, with the manner how they surprised the said Island, and took Prisoners...

Also, Another bloudy Fight at Scarbrough Castle in York-shire, between the Kings Forces, and the Parliaments, upon their sallying out of the Castle, and surprizing their Guards, and the number killed and taken prisoners. Printed in the Year, 1648. Modern vellum- backed boards (reusing an old document fragment), titled to spine.

Interleaved with later paper, neat glassine reinforcement to gutter margins, some spotting to text. Several manuscript dates and shorthand annotations to the margins of title and text proper, in the manner of, and likely made by, John Rushworth.

With the bookplate of Fairfax of Cameron to FEP. A rare Royalist news-book account of late developments at the Scilly Isles, Scotland and Scarborough, and growing Independent misgivings on the harsh treatment meted out to the rebels, during the autumn of 1648, in the final throes of the Second English Civil War. Following the surrender of the Colchester Royalists to Fairfax - and the defeat of the Scottish army at Preston - in late August 1648 Royalist causes for celebration were become rare occurrences. This pamphlet recounts three of the last gasps of military Royalism around Britain whilst King Charles I was himself attempting to negotiate with increasingly exasperated Parliamentary commissioners at Newport.

Similarly, two closing accounts, the first dated October 18 and the second undated, relate the events of a sallying forth from the besieged Scarborough Castle by its Royalist occupants and that'it is further advertized from the Kingdome of Scotland, that the Earl of Lanerick is gone to the Prince to advise with his Highnesse, touching the disposall of the fleet' and that'Agents are sent from France, and other places, to treat with the States of Holland, for a conjunction between Vantrump.... And the Prince of Wales'. As is often the case with these breathlessly related news-book accounts which were swiftly compiled and struck off the press in the hours after news of developments was received, the work is poorly printed with several glaring typographical errors of spelling. Whilst the tone of the title seeks to glorify these actions, perhaps in blatant salesmanship on the account of the printer, the text itself surely reflects the increasingly desperate position that the Royalist cause, and the King himself, were in.

The appeal to Warwick's better nature in the opening letter, for example, is surely revealing of expectation that his own loyalty to the monarch might help secure a treaty and avoid actions like Prides Purge, and the eventual regicide of 1649. Similarly, the fully two page discussion of'propositions from the undaunted Independents' was surely intended to highlight that even in defeat, many still found'the affections of Parliament alienated from them'. Provenance: The bookplate in this copy suggests it was part of the dispersals of the 1993/4 Fairfax of Cameron sales; the annotations in this copy further suggest it was previously part the dispersed collections of secretary to the Parliamentary Army John Rushworth c. Rare; ESTC locates just two copies worldwide (BL and Oxford - Worcester College). We offer a wealth of antiquarian books, specialising in early and hand-press printing - but not excluding all others! We are proud and active members of the ABA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association), ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers) and the PBFA (Provincial Book Fairs Association) - professional bodies for the antiquarian book trade, abiding by their codes of practice and exhibiting at several large national and regional book fairs each year.

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