A True Relation of the injust Persute against the Lord Napier, written by himselfe [manuscript], [ca. 1635-40].
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Details
Title
A True Relation of the injust Persute against the Lord Napier, written by himselfe [manuscript], [ca. 1635-40].
Description
[63 p.] ; 20 x 14 cm (4to)
Associated name
Napier, Archibald, Sir, approximately 1575-1645, author.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain.
Item Details
Call number
V.a.690
Folger-specific note
From dealer's description: "Manuscript written in ink in a neat italic on paper. Bunch of grapes watermark. Small 4to. [Text: 196 x 136 mm]. [63pp]. Text lightly browned and slightly soiled with a little dampstaining at the foot. Contemporary Scottish calf, the covers tooled in gilt with a border and panel of a narrow pearl-chain roll between blind fillets, a small carnation or daisy tool at the outer corners of the panel, in the centre a thistle tool; smooth spine divided into panels by blind fillets (joints and spine rubbed). The only known contemporary manuscript of Lord Napier's memoir / apologia, with a family provenance, said by the historian Mark Napier in 1838 to be autograph. The copy-text for the first edition of 1793 privately printed in 100 copies for the 8th Lord Napier, Memoirs of Archibald, first Lord Napier: written by himself. Published from the original manuscript in the possession of the present Lord Napier (Edinburgh: 1793). Archibald Napier (c.1575-1645) was the eldest son of John Napier (1550-1617), the inventor of logarithms. He was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King James VI of Scotland and accompanied him to England in 1603. He was knighted in 1616, appointed a Privy Councillor Treasurer (Scotland) in 1617, was Treasurer Depute of Scotland 1622-31, a Lord of Session 1623-6 and Extraordinary Lord of Session (Scotland) 1626-8. He was created a baronet in 1627 and Lord Napier of Merchistoun in 1627. He took the King's side during the Civil War and was imprisoned by the Covenanters from June to November 1641, confined with his eldest son to within a mile of his apartments in Holyroodhouse and, after his son's escape in April 1645, in close confinement at Edinburgh Castle and Linlithgow before being released at the end of July 1645. He died three months later (information from Cockayne's Complete Peerage and ODNB). The Scottish advocate and historian Mark Napier (1798- 1879), in his discussion of the surviving autograph papers of the 1st Lord Napier at Merchistoun in Montrose and the Covenanters, their characters and conduct (1838), mentioned that "among the Merchiston papers, however, there are various remnants, which appear to have suffered from fire as well as time, all in the handwriting of this Lord Napier, and relating to his connexion with the events of the reign of Charles I. (Vol. I, p. 9) ... The only historical composition left complete by this nobleman is a manuscript in his handwriting, entitled, 'A true Relation of the injust persute against the Lord Napier, written by himselfe.' This does not refer to 'the Plot', nor to any of the transactions which fall under the denomination of 'the Troubles' in Scotland. It relates to a private cabal at court to deprive Napier of royal favour and countenance, a storm through which his unflinching integrity bore him with safety and honour. The period embraced by this Relation is from the beginning of the reign [of Charles I] in 1624, to the date of the King's coronation visit to Scotland in 1633. It was written soon after that event, and before the period of Montrose's return from his youthful travels [in 1636]. But the narrative is interspersed with curious anecdotes of the growth of factions and sketches of public characters, furnishing withal so apt and instructive a preliminary to the factious scenes which ushered in the great Rebellion, that we need offer no apology for presenting our readers with extracts from it that will be found in the introductory chapters." (Vol. I, pp. 10-11)." From dealer's description (cont.): "Binding: We have not been able to find the small flower tool and the thistle tool found on the covers on the very few other published Edinburgh bindings of the second quarter of the 17th Century. However, the binding can be compared to those on certain copies of Archbishop Laud's first Scottish Book of Common Prayer printed by Robert Young at Edinburgh 1636-7, e.g. the copy with Scottish arms of Charles I in Maggs's Bookbinding Catalogue 1075/35 [now in the Wormsley Library]. Provenance: The Napier Charter-Chest, at Merchiston Castle, now the centre of the Merchiston Campus of Edinburgh Napier University. Removed to Thirlestane Castle, in the Ettrick Valley near Selkirk, by the 6th Lord Napier, 3rd Baronet of Thirlestane (c. 1702-73) who sold Merchiston in 1772. By descent to Francis, 8th Lord Napier of Merchistoun (1758-1823), who commissioned the 1793 edition; with his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown and his manuscript note on the flyleaf, "One Hundred Copies of this Manuscript Printed off, March 1793. Napier." See Mark Napier, Montrose and the Covenanters (1838), passim, for other manuscripts from the same source. Thence by descent with the Lords Napier & Ettrick. The early 19th-century Thirlestane Castle was dynamited some time after the succession in 1954 of the 14th Lord Napier & 5th Baron Ettrick (1930-2012). Anonymous sale, Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 6/5/2015, lot 156 [catalogued incorrectly as a "copy, c. 1700-1720?"]." Ordered from Maggs Bros. Ltd., D 9129, 2017-09-21, Catalog 1495, #77.
Folger accession
270262