Books and Manuscripts

Sandford, Francis
The History of the Coronation Of the Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, James II. By the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. And of His Royal Consort Queen Mary…
In the Savoy (London): Printed by Thomas Newcomb, 1687. First edition. Folio. (xii), 135 pp. Title-page printed in red and in black. Illustrated with 29 (of 30) engraved plates (28 double-page), engraved historiated initials, engraved head-pieces, and four engraved in-text plates, by William Sherwin and others; lacking the final fireworks plate (sometimes missing). Full contemporary brown calf, red morocco spine label, stamped in gilt, rebacked with original spine laid down, boards and extremities worn and rubbed, corners worn; all edges gilt; marbled endpapers; armorial book-plate of F.A. Harman Gates on front pastedown; armorial book-plate of Edward Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Derwentwater on verso of title-page; scattered light spotting to text; light offsetting. 

A handsome copy in a contemporary binding of this chronicle of the lavish ceremony and celebration of the 1685 coronation of English King James II. Published two years later on the cusp of the Glorious Revolution, this book sought to reclaim James's threatened sovereignty that had become increasingly unpopular to both Parliament and the public alike due to his Catholicism. The text, with its detailed list of the participating nobles, order of festivities, and fine detailed engravings, emphasizes the public support of James in an effort to reclaim his legitimacy. The work did little to stem the antipathy toward his unpopular rule, and with the invasion of William of Orange the following year, James would abdicate and flee to France. 

From the library of Edward Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Derwentwater, and an ally of James II. Edward's father, Francis Radclyffe, was an English peer, Catholic, and a member of the House of Lords. He was created 1st Earl of Derwentwater by James II in 1688, shortly before his ouster. The Radclyffes were the most prominent and wealthy Catholic family in Northumberland at the time, and connected to the House of Stuart by marriage. The younger Radclyffe succeeded his father upon his death in 1697, and married Lady Mary Tudor, daughter of King Charles II. It is likely that the Radclyffes attended the coronation of James II, although they are not mentioned within this text. Edward's sons, James and Francis, were brought up in the exiled court of James III in St. Germain, France. Upon his father's death in 1705, James became the 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, and in 1709 was allowed to return to England by Queen Anne. With the death of the heirless Anne in 1714, and the alarm at the assumption of the throne by Hanoverian George I, James became a leader of the Jacobite rising of 1715 in an effort to install the Catholic line of the Stuart dynasty. The rising failed, and James was arrested and beheaded in 1716.