OWNED BY GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FELLOW COMMANDER: An Account of what Passed at the Execution of the Late Duke of Monmouth [&] The Proceedings Against Sir Thomas Armstrong [&] The Free and Voluntary Confession and Narrative of James Holloway [&] A True Account & Declaration of the Horrid Conspiracy against the late King [&] Copies of the Informations and Original Papers

A collection of English Rebellion narratives owned by one of George Washington’s fellow commanders in the French and Indian War, the Scots army officer and politician Archibald Montgomerie, who raised the 77th Foot Regiment of Highlanders and led them alongside Washington’s Virginia Regiment in the capture of Fort Duquesne in 1758.

Going back another half century, this volume contains an uncommon printed account of the execution of the Duke of Monmouth on Tower-Hill in 1685 alongside four pamphlets deriving from the Rye House Plot against Charles II and his brother James in 1684. The five imprints tell a story of an earlier troubled time:

DESCRIPTION:

Folio bound in panelled calf with ornaments in blind; five spine panels and morocco label ‘Account of the Conspiracy’; hinges starting top and bottom but sound. Rubbing to edges and extremities. Speckled edges to text block. Bookplate of Archibald Earl of Eglinton to front pastedown (1729-1796, Scottish General who served with George Washington, MP, correspondent of James Boswell - held at Yale - latterly a patron to Robert Burns). An 18th century manuscript list of the contents appears above the bookplate, possibly written in Eglinton’s hand. Old children’s crayon drawings opposite bookplate. The collection comprises:

1 [Thomas Sprat] A True Account and Declaration of the Horrid Conspiracy, 1685, Thomas Newcomb [6] pp168

2 Copies of the Informations and Original Papers, 1685, Thomas Newcomb - lacking Dd2 - Rye House Engraving opposite Nn1, pp142

3 The Free and Voluntary Confession and Narrative of James Holloway... his Execution for High-Treason at Tyburn, April 30. 1684, Robert Horne, John Baker and John Redmayne, pp16

4 The Proceedings Against Sir Thomas Armstrong... at his Execution at Tyburn the 20th of June 1684, pp4, Robert Horn, John Baker and John Redmayne, ESTC R21348; folded in order to fit the volume.

5 An Account of what Passed at the Execution of the Late Duke of Monmouth, 1685, Robert Horne, John Baker and Benjamin Tooke, pp4, ESTC R6630