Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio, contra Claudii Anonymi, alias Salmasii, Defensionem Regiam.
London: Du Gardianis, 1652.
Engraved coat of arms of Commonwealth on title. 192 pages with text in Latin. 24mo, full contemporary calf, neatly re-backed in older matching leather with hand-labeled spine title. Ex-library copy without stamps but with 2 large plates on endpaper. Londini: Du Gardianis, 1652. First published the prior year, this may be a false imprint [Gouda: G. de Hoeve?] -- Wing M-2169; Madan 12.
Milton's famous refutation of Salmasius, in which the sovereign right and power of the people over tyrants clearly stated and plainly proved. "The work, commissioned by the Commonwealth Council in answer the French protestant Claude de Saumaise (or Salmasius) who was commissioned by the exiled Charles II to write a memorial to the reign of Charles I and an attack on Parliament for its execution of a King (carried out in the previous year). The Commonwealth rightly perceived the tract to be a threat to the reputation of the regime and ordered Milton to publish this rebuttal as he was the Secretary for Foreign Tongues to the Council of State. Milton spent most of 1650 on this response. His energies and eyesight, what remained of it, were destroyed by this labour."
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good(-)
Language: Latin
Price: $450.00
Item #276245