[Charles I] Eikon Basilike, London, [c. 1660], contemporary black morocco gilt

Charles I [compiled by John Gauden]

Εικων Βασιλικη. The pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his soliltudes and sufferings. [London], 1649 [i.e. c. 1660]

8vo (202 x 126mm.), [8], 263, [1]pp., first leaf with woodcut armorial, folding engraved frontispiece portrait of Charles I by William Marshall, engraved portraits of Charles II and Charles I, woodcut initials and headpieces, contemporary black morocco elaborately gilt to a corner and centrepiece design with brown morocco onlays, a crowned skull and the initials CR on covers, flat spine similarly gilt, gilt edges, frontispiece slightly creased, binding slightly rubbed, lacking two pairs of ties

The creation of Eikon Basilike is now generally accepted to be the work of Dr John Gauden, bishop of Exeter and then Worcester, who used writings by Charles I in defence of his policies to celebrate Charles' "martyrdom" in print. Despite the attempts of the Parliamentarians to prevent Charles' execution resulting in the creation of a cult, this text proved a bestseller with numerous editions printed beyond the reach of the authorities.

The elaborate yet sombre memento mori binding depicts a crowned skull with the initials CR, Carolus Rex, which also appear on another copy of this text in the British Library, Henry Davis Gift 99, which has a false imprint of The Hague.

Loosely inserted is an extract from a newspaper from 1890, containing a report about the "Sale of Stuart Relics" at Christie, Manson, and Woods, which included a copy of this work signed by Charles II on title-page.

LITERATURE:

Wing E307; Madan, New Bibliography of the Eikon Basilike, 25

PROVENANCE:

Robert Vaughan Hughes (1819-1901), of Wyelands (Monmouthshire), bookplate and fragment of his headed paper loosely inserted