PARKER, Henry

£2,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Standard of Equality in Subsidiary Taxes & Payments, Or a Just and strong Preserver of Publique Liberty. First edition, "equality" issue, of the parliamentary polemicist's defence of excise taxes, published in the lull between the first and second English Civil Wars.Parliament first levied an excise tax in 1643, as a means of financing the army. The measure proved unpalatable and protests soon followed. Henry Parker (1604-1652) is often judged "the most formidable parliamentary apologist of the First Civil War" (Pocock, p. 368). He systematically addresses popular complaints against the tax, even suggesting that it become a permanent measure.ESTC records two issues of the Standard in 1647, distinguished by the spelling of "equality"/"equalitie" on the title page. No priority has been identified.

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