Raynors HCA 2015-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2015
Two complete and authentic issues of The Caledonian Mercury, Edinburgh, July 9th and 16th, 1768, each 4pp., both VG. From the front page, taking 1/3 of the 9th issue and taking 2/3 of the 16th issue is the report "A Candid Enquiry into the Literary Merits of John Wilkes, Esq.” John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist, and politician. Wilkes was charged with seditious libel over attacks on George III's speech endorsing the Paris Peace Treaty of 1763 at the opening of Parliament on 23 April 1763. The King felt personally insulted and ordered general warrants to be issued for the arrest of Wilkes and the publishers. Wilkes was again imprisoned in the King's Bench Prison on May 10, 1768, his supporters appeared before King's Bench, London, chanting "No liberty, no King." Troops opened fire on the unarmed men, killing seven and wounding 15, an incident that came to be known as the St George's Fields Massacre. This lengthy essay defends liberty and Wilkes.
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