Historical Collections by John Rushworth of Private Passages of State, Weighty Matters in Law, Remarkable Proceedings in Five Parliaments. Begining The Sixteenth Year of King James, Anno 1618, and ending at the Death of King Charles I in 1648. London. Printed by J.A. for Robert Boulter et al., 1682-1701. [Together with] The Tryal of Thomas Earl of Strafford [...]. By John Rushworth. London: Richard Chiswell, 1700, folios.
A STUNNING SET IN CONTEMPORARY PANELLED BINDINGS OF RUSHWORTH'S HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS: THE FIRST DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR AND A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
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John Rushworth was a very important figure during this historical period in England. Rushworth, influenced by John Pym's 1640 speech, documented key battles during the Civil War. He later served as Thomas Fairfax's secretary, chronicling events around Charles I's capture, trial, and execution. Rushworth aligned with Oliver Cromwell, aiding in drafting plans for an English Republic. He held various governmental roles, including Registrar of the Court of Admiralty and as Member of Parliament for Berwick.
After Oliver Cromwell's death, Rushworth supported his son, Richard Cromwell, but power shifted to the Council of State. He became Secretary of the council during negotiations for the return of Charles II. Upon the monarchy's restoration, he was appointed Treasury Solicitor. Accusations tied him to the regicides, but he professed ignorance. Despite not being re-elected, he still served as Berwick's agent. He later became secretary to Sir Orlando Bridgeman and represented the Massachusetts colony, albeit with minimal impact.
Elected to multiple Parliaments, Rushworth's final years were marked by financial troubles and imprisonment. He passed away in 1690, leaving behind these extremely influential writings which found great favour in America where they served as a source of inspiration for Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson bought a copy of Rushworth's Historical Collections for use in his own library and he often quoted from them. His views of Charles I as a king who had declared war on his own people, were later echoed in words by Thomas Jefferson and others when writing about the reign of George III in the Declaration of Independence.
This set has the 1680 second edition of the first volume with the other volumes all in first edition format, following the exact same as a set of this work which sold at Sotheby's in 2009 for £6,000 (GBP), also including The Tryal of Thomas Earl of Stafford (vol 4) and hence the set is bound across 8 volumes. We sold a set of the same edition of this set without The Tryal volume last year in much worse condition for £1,000. This is an exceedingly rare set to find and rarely sees the open market, especially in such excellent rebacked contemporary panelled bindings. Here is a fantastic opportunity to acquire the first edition of the most important historical account of the English Civil War.
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Size: 210 x 315 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
[(1) frontis, frontis, t.p., 10pp., 2ff. (map), 691pp., 57pp., 14pp., (2), t.p., iii-vi]; [frontis, t.p., 8pp., 884pp., (1)]; [(1), pp.885-1388, 315pp., 16pp., (1)]; [(1), frontis, t.p., 8pp., 786pp., 2pp., (1)]; [(2), frontis, t.p., 4pp., 788pp., 12pp., (1)]; [(4), t.p., 988pp., 12pp., (1)]; [(1), h.t./frontis, t.p., i-xvi, 656pp., 8pp., (1)]; [(1), t.p., pp.731-1431, 19pp., (1)].
Contemporary panelled bindings, finely rebacked, rubbed with a little discolouration, but a very attractive set on the shelf. The first three volumes are misnumbered on the spines but all volumes are present. Each retain their tooled labels. The set is very clean throughout and internally very attractive and well preserved indeed, with the beautiful foldout. A near fine set, a vastly superior example of this important early history in eight folio volumes. The pagination between volumes seven and eight does not follow but the catch word on the pp. 656 in volume seven is the chapter heading which is the start of volume eight on pp.731, thus most likely mispaginated rather than leaves lacking.
[ESTC T195706; Wing R2317-R2319, R2334].
