Apparently showing early New England provenance, the first and only editions works by a defender of religious toleration in Massachusetts and back home in England.
Contemporary calf, carefully repaired. The earliest, probably 17th century ownership inscription appears on the first flyleaf, making the book ‘The Gift of Mrs Werden of Westchester’ - a place name that matches nowhere in England but seems likely to refer to Westchester County, New York State. Opposite the title page is a second early inscription: ‘This belonged to Farrer Wren of Binchester - Thomas Kilburn’. Binchester is a village in County Durham; Farrer Wren, a relative of Sir Christopher Wren, was the owner of Binchester Old Hall. Finally, the name of ‘George Cannell’, probably late 18th century, appears on the title page. The first work, The Tryal of Sir Henry Vane, collates complete with the preliminary blank, pp134 [2]; read with care early on and showing occasional underlining and manicules pointing to text; light soiling to paper; Two Treatises lacks N4 - never bound in: [12] pp 100, minus pp95-6; no annotation.
Henry Vane (1613-1662) is a richly complex figure in 17th century history who supported the creation of Roger Williams' Rhode Island Colony and Harvard College during his times as governor of Massachusetts in the late 1630s. A proponent of religious tolerance, he defended Anne Hutchinson’s right to teach religious topics in her home which put him in direct conflict with the Puritan leaders in the Massachusetts Colony and he was eventually banned. Back in England he was a leading Parliamentarian during the English Civil War who was targeted by Charles II after the Restoration as a man ‘Too dangerous to live’ because of his fight for civil and religious liberties. The first of these two texts is an account of Vane’s heavily rigged trial which ended in his execution. The Two Treatises are Vane’s own millennialist religious works. Vane’s reputation peaked in the 19th century when a statue was erected to him in Boston Public Library.
