High Treason!! The Whole Proceedings on the Trial of Arthur..

1817. With a Duplicate Colored Frontispiece Annotated by George Cruikshank [Trial]. Thistlewood, Arthur [1770-1820], Defendant. Watson, James, Defendant. Preston, Thomas, Defendant. Hooper, John, Defendant. [Cruikshank, Isaac (1764-1811), Illustrator]. [Cruikshank, George (1792-1878), Annotation]. High Treason!! The Whole Proceedings on the Trial of Arthur Thistlewood, Gent. James Watson, The Elder, Surgeon, Thomas Preston, Cordwainer, And John Hooper, Labourer: Upon an Indictment Found Against Them for High Treason. Fairburn's Edition. London: [Printed by W. Marchant; Published by John Fairburn, 1817]. 23 parts, comprising 360 numbered columns. Folding frontispiece, two plates. Complete. Octavo (9" x 5-3/4"; 22.86 x 14.60 cm). Original plain paper-covered publisher boards with contrasting spine, untrimmed edges. Some soiling and staining, moderate edgewear, spine abraded and worn, front board detached, early owner signature (L. Palmer) and later owner bookplate of William Hartmann Woodin [1868-1934] to front pastedown. Moderate toning to text, minor oil stains and dampstains to a few leaves. Brief annotations in pencil to front pastedown and verso folding plates, both entry references to Douglas's Works of George Cruikshank, interior otherwise clean. Duplicate of folding frontispiece, hand-colored, and with an annotation by George Cruikshank laid in. It is lightly soiled, lightly edgeworn and beginning to tear along fold lines, later reference annotation to Douglas bibliography to top margin. Items housed in a quarter-morocco over cloth slipcase with raised bands and gilt title to spine. Moderate rubbing to extremities. A unique copy of a rare title. $950. * First and only edition. A "Fairburn's Edition," which provides the "whole proceedings" of the trials. It includes verbatim accounts of the evidence presented, arguments from defense attorneys, and the cross-examination of witnesses. The trials occurred during a period of significant post-Napoleonic War economic hardship and political repression in Britain. The defendants were part of a movement advocating for radical reforms like universal suffrage and land redistribution. The men organized two mass meetings at Spa Fields to protest and petition the Prince Regent. While the first meeting was largely peaceful, the second, on December 2, 1816, devolved into a riot.