Legion's humble address to the Lords. To the right honourable the Lords spiritual and temporal, assembled in Parliament
[London: 1704]. Broadsheet, small folio (315 x 152 mm); left-hand margin trimmed close in lower half of sheet, touching a few letters, minor tears from previous fold, uniformly toned. A rare broadsheet sometimes attributed to Defoe (although more likely written by his agent in Scotland John Pierce), praising the Lords for their action affirming the right of freeholders to vote in the Aylesbury election. There is much evidence to associate Pierce with this pamphlet, and he may well have been the author, though it is possible that he and Defoe collaborated on it. Moore 74 describes a 4-page printing of this address, but notes there is a "copy with 2 unnumbered pages" at Indiana University. This copy would seem to conform to that at Indiana. "There can be no doubt that [Defoe] was deeply involved in it, in conjunction with...John Pierce...the weight of evidence is in favour of Pierce, rather than Defoe, as the actual author" (ESTC citing Furbank and Owens, Defoe de-attributions). ESTC locates 8 copies, Lilly, UC-Riverside, and Yale only in the U.S. Item #39342
Price: $1,250.00
