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Exceedingly rare newsbook from the English Civil War...
Exceedingly rare newsbook from the English Civil War...
Item # 628216
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March 15, 1647
MERCURIUS ELENCTICUS, London, March 15-22, 1647 [1648 by today's calendar].
* Very rare mid-17th century periodical
* English Civil War - Charles I of England
An exceedingly rare newsbook (predecessor of today's newspapers) from during the English Civil War. This is the very first issue of this title we have been able to offer. The full title as seen in the photo is: "MERCURIUS ELENCTICUS. Communicating the unparallell'd proceedings at Westminster, the Head-quarters, and other Places, discovering their Designes, reproving their Crimes, and advising the Kingdome."
Information as provided on the internet notes this title was published by Sir George Wharton, who took the pen name George Naworth. As a royalist pamphleteer and newsbook editor, he wrote Mercurius Elencticus. Mocking Parliament, it carried biographical material on its leaders. When Wharton was imprisoned, it continued with help from Samuel Sheppard. He attacked John Hall, who wrote Mercurius Britanicus, employed by William Lilly whom Mercurius Elencticus lampooned. He also attacked John Booker, another astrologer in the Parliamentarian camp. Mercurius Elencticus is full of biographies of the rebels, none of which have ever been disproved and large numbers of which can be corroborated from other sources.
See the photos for the full text of this issue. Complete in 8 pages, 5 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches, very nice, clean condition.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
No Longer Available
