DIGGES, Sir Dudley.

£12,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Defence of Trade. Rare first edition of Digges's important book, an early defence of the East India Company monopoly, and a counter-blast to The Trades Increase, an anonymous work of the same year usually attributed to the mysterious mercantilist Robert Kayll; records show that the last copy to appear at public auction was in 1955 (the Andre de Coppet sale, Sotheby's, 9 May).Sir Dudley Digges (1682/3-1639), politician and diplomat, from a well-connected Kent family, was "much preoccupied with overseas trade, he was a shareholder in the Virginia Company and the East India Company. He also took a keen interest in the search for the much vaunted north-west passage. One of the founders of a company incorporated in 1612 for the purpose of trading by that route, he published an account of the ensuing exploration. In 1613 Digges was appointed to the high commission, a prerogative court with jurisdiction in church matters, and his appointment was renewed periodically thereafter. The following year he was candidate for the governorship of the East India Company. Also in 1614 he sat at Westminster for Tewkesbury again, taking an active role as a committee member and speaking out against papists and the impositions which he believed were responsible for putting English merchants out of business" (ODNB).Digges was replying in large part to the ironically titled The Trades Increase; ironic, as The Trades Increase was also the name of the greatest English merchant vessel of the age, th

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