The State Trial Of Doctor Henry Sacheverell

About this book

"This work offers a critical edition of original texts and documents necessary for understanding the trial's significance. By consolidating all accounts of the trial, scholars are able to consult and compare these accounts in a readily accessible volume. Presents critical editions of several manuscripts relating to this celebrated 'state trial' Demonstrates that the often cited and printed account of the trial by Jacob Tonson was incomplete and often regarded by contemporaries as a partisan production Extensively illustrated with rare prints and drawings - most existing in only one copy and never before reproduced Documents the intense interest of contemporary readers in the meaning of the trial and presents transcripts and illustrations of their annotations Allow scholars to consult and compare the varying accounts of the trial in a readily accessible volume "-- "The celebrated trial of Doctor Henry Sacheverell in 1710 has been viewed as a classic example of the politicised 'state trial'. This work offers a critical edition of original texts and documents necessary for understanding the trial's significance. Previous historians have largely accepted the printing by Jacob Tonson of the 'authorised version' of the trial's proceedings as authoritative. This edition sets the Tonson account in its proper historical, and polemical, context by showing that it was not the only account on offer of the trial's proceedings in the early eighteenth century, and that it's authoritative status was hotly contested, particularly by Tories, but also by radical Whigs. The works collected in this edition consist of unique manuscripts, rare printed tracts, and images, most existing in only one copy and never before reproduced. By consolidating them in one volume, it is now possible for scholars to consult and compare these accounts in a readily accessible volume"--