Eikon Basilike. The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majesty in His Solitudes and Sufferings, with prayers used in the time of his restraint

Description

~Original calf, much rubbed. Splitting starting over rear hinge. Spine cracked over front hinge: just barely holding, largely thanks to amateur modern repair to front endpapers with 3 strips of white tape. Pocket-size (5 x 9.8cm). All edges black 19th-century inscriptions to inside front board and front flyleaf: ”Dick Watt 1836” and, intriguingly, the Spanish inscription ”De los libros / Samuel Henrique Bagley / En Valparaiso / del Pacifico (?) / Octobre 17 de 1827”. Annotation in old hand to final page of text: ”Bury”. Complete except for outer half of the folding engraved frontis by William Marshall (a printout has been supplied from an online copy of this edn). Age-browning and occasional soiling. Title page printed in red & black. First two words of title in Greek characters. Full imprint: ”reprinted in Regis Memoriam for John Williams”. Folding port. of the then Prince Charles after p. 150. Not bound with ”The Papers which passed at New-Castle betwixt His Sacred Majestie and Mr Al. Henderson”, as is sometimes the case, but complete with prayers and ”the copy of a letter” to rear. Woodcut decorated initials. Traditionally ascribed to Charles I, the Eikon basilike is now generally accepted to have been ghostwritten by John Gauden, bishop of Worcester, who probably included some authentic material from the king (Madan, pp. 125-33). A justification of the king”s actions before and during the English civil war and a spiritual autobiography of sorts, Eikon Basilike was first published ten days after Charles” execution and became one of the most successful and influential publications of the 17th century, with forty English-language impressions and issues in 1649 alone; it ”remained a book to inspire the cult of Charles, king and martyr” (ODNB). As Gauden himself exclaimed, after the restoration of Charles II, ”What preparations it made in all men”s minds for this happy restoration. (…) In a word, it was an army and did vanquish more than any sword could” (cited in Helgerson, 1). Almack 37; Madan 33. Helgerson, 1987, ”Milton Reads the King”s Book”, Criticism 29.1, pp. 1-25. ~Robust packaging. Overseas orders trackable on request.