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"The difference between Arbitrary Usurpers and...Laws of the Land."

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:350.00 USD Estimated At:700.00 - 950.00 USD
 The difference between Arbitrary Usurpers and...Laws of the Land.
Contentious, somewhat topical political volume, Arbitrary Government Displayed to the Life, in The Tyrannic Usurpation of a Junto of Men called the Rump Parliament, and More especially in that of the Tyrant and Usurper, Oliver Cromwell.... "In Which you have a clear View of the Arbitrary, Illegal, and unjust Proceedings, of those Persons under the Notion of Liberty...With the Characters and Lives of several of those Usurpers and a brief Account of the several Persons that suffered Death, and Imprisonment under them for their Loyalty to their King and Country, And By which may be seen the difference between Arbitrary Usurpers and Lawful Kings reigning by, and according to the Laws of the Land" 'the earliest appearance of this phrase we have seen]. Attributed to Sir Thomas May, M.P. London: printed for Charles Leigh, 1682. 3 1/2 x 6, 216 pp., six full-page engravings (one a foldout), beautifully burled calf, gilt rope frame. Two full-page "brass cut" frontispiece plates, one showing enormous Trojan Horse-size griffin, its body concealing ranks of a "standing army," with tiny representations of the "Magna Charta," "Laws," "Customs," "Statutes," and other stalwart traditions lying before its fire-breathing nostrils. Facing plate of "Oliver Cromwell's Cabinet Councell Discovered," showing a dozen men round a table - including "The Divell" (Devil) with enormous horns. At rear, folding plate of five clerics, and engraving of "The Powder Plot" mounted on inside board, both of latter possibly added from another contemporary source. An impassioned account of the tumultuous times of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector (chief executive) under a "constitution designed to establish balance of power between Parliament and protector," using his considerable pen to rule by ordinances--Webster's Biographical Dictionary. So hated did Cromwell become that he was hung from the gallows - after being disinterred from Westminster Abbey. Front inside hinge broken, signatures somewhat shaken, spine rebacked with goat-embossed leather, probably mid-20th century, red spine label; some tip wear, else about very good. A riveting reminder that current political discourse is nothing new, the prose's passion recalling that of the Revolutionary War period - and in some ways, today. Very scarce. WorldCat located only one copy in Great Britain (and three in the U.S.).