Books and Manuscripts

A True Relation of the Treaty and Ratification of the Marriage concluded and agreed upon betweene our Soveraigne Lord Charles by the Grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, and the Lady Henretta Maria Daughter of France and Sister to his most Christian Majestie the French King
(London, 1642). First edition. 8vo. 8 pp. Three-quarter mottled tan calf over tan linen-covered boards, stamped in gilt, joints and spine ends rubbed; top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed; marbled endpapers; by Riviere & Son; light spotting to text. Lowndes, p. 385; Wing T3062

Scarce first edition of the marriage treaty between English King Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France, youngest daughter of French King Henry IV. Published in the tumultuous opening days of the English Civil War, this pamphlet prints 26 of the treaty's conditions, which provided protection and concessions to the Catholic Queen's household. The terms of the treaty fed suspicion of the new monarch, and “a turbulent and defiant relationship was born separating Charles I and his subjects which in less than twenty years led to the outbreak of civil war, a war highly tinctured by the religious loyalties of Catholic and Anglican," (Shimp, A Catholic Marriage for an Anglican Prince) and which would lead to the King's execution in 1649.