John. Pro populo anglicano defensio contra Claudii Anonymi, aliàs Salmasii, Defensionem regiam.

by MILTON

£750 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

One of the Defining Political Controversies of the Interregnum MILTON, John. Pro populo anglicano defensio contra Claudii Anonymi, aliàs Salmasii, Defensionem regiam. London [i.e. Amsterdam]: Du Gardianis [i.e. Jansson] . 1651. 12mo. Contemporary limp vellum, yapp fore-edges, manuscript lettering in ink to spine; pp. [2 (blank)], [2], [38], 330; woodcut Commonwealth arms device to title; binding a little marked; light toning and small rust hole to title; loosely inserted note with contemporary inscription in ink (see below); very good. [offered with:] [SAUMAISE, Claude.] Defensio Regia. Pro Carolo I. Ad Serenissimum Magna Britanniæ Regem Carolum II. Filium natu majorem, Heredem Successorem legitimum. [Leiden?]: Sumptibus regiis . 1652. 12mo. Polished sheep in panel design, covers ruled and tooled in blind to panel design with small fleurons, rebacked; pp. 444; woodcut device to title, woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces; a little scuffed and worn with some light offsetting to endapers but a good sound copy; bookplate of Lord Calthorpe and shelf-mark to upper pastedown. Early Continental edition of Milton’s celebrated defence of the English Commonwealth, issued with a false London imprint the same year as the first printing. A pivotal work in the polemics of the Interregnum, Milton’s Defensio is a searing rebuttal of Claude Saumaise’s Defensio regia , the Royalist tract defending Charles I, published the previous year. The work is significant as the official reply commi

• Binding: Hardcover

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