Lot 117
Scotland
Auction: 10 June 2009 at 12:00 BST
Description
A complete set of the original Laws and acts of the Scottish Parliaments of William and Mary and of Queen Anne, from the Glorious Revolution to the Act of Union [together with] 310 daily Minuts of the Proceedings from 1693 to the Act of Union. Edinburgh: printed by the heir [or heirs and successors] of Andrew Anderson, 1690-1707. Folio, 6 volumes, variously bound
Footnote
Note: The Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 transformed Scottish politics and the role of the Scottish Parliament. When WIlliam and Mary came to the Scottish throne not by hereditary right, but by invitation of the Meeting of the Estates... begun... the 14th Day of March 1689 (in volume I of Laws and Acts), the balance of power was altered at a stroke. For the first time since the days of the National Covenant, the legislature played an important role in Scottish national life, while the influence of the Crown was reduced.
For the last and most momentous Session, when the Treaty of Union was debated and ratified, there are twenty-nine broadside division lists 'of the Members Names as they Voted', mainly on the individual Articles of Union. Parliament was adjourned at the end of this session, an adjournment that was to last for nearly three centuries until the present devolved Scottish Parliament was convened in Edinburgh in 1999 with the words: 'The Scottish Parliament adjourned on the 25th day of March 1707 is hereby reconvened.'
The most enduring legislation under William and Mary was the 'Act for Erecting a Bank in Scotland' (17 July 1695). The Act was published separately in three issues, as a folio of four pages (as here, Wing S1127A), a folio of six pages with an initial blank, and a quarto of eight pages. Other significant acts included the Act 'Ratifying the Confession of Faith and Settling Presbyterian Church Government', 1690, the 'Act for Encouraging of Forraign Trade', 1693, and the related 'Act for a Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies', 1695, which established the ill-fated Darien scheme.
Laws and Acts For the reign of William and Mary the Meeting of the Estates and the Laws and Acts of the first three Sessions were printed together, the fourth to seventh Sessions were printed separately as single pamphlets, and the brief eighth and ninth Sessions were again printed together; for Anne the first Session is divided into two pamphlets, the other three Sessions are printed separately. All these are present in this form, which corresponds to the sets in the British Library.
Comprising: Two volumes, contemporary mottled calf, neatly rebacked, signature of the Scottish judge Sir John Baird in volume I and a few annotations probably in his hand, bookplate of Sir William Barid of Newbyth in both volumes.
Minuts of the Proceedings Numbered sequentially for each Session, the Minuts were generally printed on one side of a single folio leaf, sometimes on two; the divisions lists are generally a single folded sheet. The Sessions are: 1693, 10 of 23 parts, wanting nos. 11-23; 1695, complete in 37 parts; 1696, complete in 20 parts; 1698, complete in 21 parts; 1700-1701, both wanting (the eighth and ninth Sessions of William III); 1702, 9 of 10 parts, wanting no. 10; 1703, 60 of 63 parts, wanting nos. 12, 45 and 48; 1704, 24 of 25 parts, wanting no. 1; 1705, complete in 40 parts; 1706-7, complete in 89 parts, together with 29 division lists of votes on the various Articles of Union, these appended to the relevant Minuts. There were no minutes published in the years 1694, 1697 and 1699.
Comprising: Four volumes, variously bound: 1693-1704 in contemporary half calf, rebacked, 1705, stitched, uncut, in contemporary wrappers, 1706-7 in contemporary calf, rebacked (two sets, duplicates for the most part, but each contains division lists that the other lacks, one comes from the library of Alexander Boswell, with signature dated 1730).