England's Black Tribunall. Set Forth In The Triall Of K. Charles, I. At A High Court Of Justice At Westminster-Hall. Together With His Last Speech When He Was Put To Death On The Scaffold, January 30. 1648. To Which Is Added The Several Dying Speeches And Manner Of The Putting To Death Of Earl Of Strafford. Arch-Bishop Of Canterbury [William Laud]. Duke [Of] Hamilton [And 18 Others]. The Fourth Edition Corrected And Enlarged. Charles I.

Fourth edition of this famous and very popular Royalist martryology, running through at least four editions in its initial year of publication, the first year of the Restoration. The publisher was John Playford, better known as a music publisher - he famously issued work by Henry Purcell - and for the publication of The English Dancing Master (1651). Set up to try and execute Charles I, the "Black Tribunal" was the name given to "the most extraordinary judicial body to be met with in English history. Certainly, no court has ever been so vigorously disclaimed as to jurisdiction, or so bitterly vilified as to personnel. To the Cavaliers. as well as to the Presbyterians. the court and its works were anathema" (Sachse, p. 69). Provenance: a leaf of paper pasted to verso of the final leaf, when held to the light, shows the contemporary ownership inscription of Richard ffawcett, some lines in Latin, and the quotation: "On earth were Atheists many, in hell there is not any", a passage from The Holy State (1642) by the Royalist clergyman Thomas Fuller, a popular book in its day. A Richard ffawcett was sexton of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York, in the 1660s; he apparently died in 1698 at the age of 98. The names of three individuals on the title page are marked with a cross; two of them, Sir John Hotham and his son, Captain John Hotham, were Yorkshiremen and both executed. Wing E2947. William L. Sachse, "England's 'Black Trbunal': an Analysis of the Regicide Court", Journal of British Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, May 1973. Octavo (164 x 98 mm). Contemporary mottled calf sometime neatly rebacked with sheep, cluster of blind floriate tools at corners of covers. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Charles by Richard Gaywood; Part 2 has separate dated title page: "England's Black Tribunall: The Second Part: set forth in the dyeing speeches and manner of putting to death of [the same 21 names as above]"; pagination and register are continuous. Minor worming to spine, boards a little scuffed and touch of wear to edges, occasional light foxing to contents. A very good copy.