An Historicall Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government..

1647. The Suppressed Second Edition of a Controversial Work [Bacon, Nathaniel (1593-1660), Attributed]. [Selden, John (1584-1654), Attributed]. An Historicall Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government of England. The First Part. From the First Times Till the Reign of Edward the Third. London: Printed for Matthew Walbancke at Grays-Inn-Gate, 1647 [i.e. 1672]. [xii], 323, [13] pp. [Bound with] Bacon, Nathaniel. [Selden, John]. The Continuation of an Historicall Discourse, Of the Government of England, Until the End of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. With a Preface, Being a Vindication of the Ancient Way of Parliaments in England. By Nath. Bacon of Grays-Inn, Esquire. London: Printed for Matthew Walbanck, and Henry Twyford, and are to be Sold at Grays-Inn-Gate, and in Vine-Court Middle Temple, 1651 [i.e. 1672]. [xxiv], 307, [9] pp. Quarto (7-1/2" x 5-3/4"). Contemporary mottled calf, rebacked in later sheep, blind rules to boards, raised bands to spine, hinges mended. A few worm holes to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, rear joint partially cracked, twentieth-century owner bookplate (of John Francis Neylan [1885-1960], designed by W.H. Wilke) to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, light edgewear to endleaves, annotation in small early hand to title page of An Historicall Discourse attributing authorship to Bacon. $1,000. * Second editions. Nathaniel Bacon was a supporter of Cromwell and Parliament and an outspoken foe of royal prerogative. (His father was the half-brother of Francis Bacon.) Originally published in 1647 and 1651, "Bacon's Historicall Discourse is a sort of constitutional history of England, showing much knowledge of the development of the institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, and pervaded by a strong spirit of hostility to the claims of the royal prerogative and to hierarchical pretensions. (...) The statement [that the present work was composed by Bacon from the manuscript notes of John Selden] seems to have no better foundation than a vague assertion of Chief Justice Vaughan, one of Selden's executors, that the 'groundwork' of the book was Selden's" (DNB). Since this work opposed claims of royal prerogative, the second edition was printed secretly with false imprint dates. This edition was suppressed, however, and the publishers were prosecuted when.