Blackwood, Adam
Opera Omnia
£479
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 19 June 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
Paris: Sébastien Cramoisy et Gabriel Cramoisy, 1644. 4to, [40] 735 [19] pp., contemporary limp vellum French manuscript waste binding, engraved vignette to title-page, engraved portrait, recent manuscript title added to front cover in purple ink, tears to front pastedown and free endpaper, faint damp-staining title-page, variable light damp-staining to margins thereafter
Footnote
First edition of the collected words of the Scottish civil lawyer and Roman Catholic polemicist, who served as rector of the University of Paris, and on the grounds of his loyalty to Mary, Queen of Scots attacked George Buchanan's arguments for the right of subjects to depose unsatisfactory monarchs. 'His contribution to the development of the theory of absolute monarchy can be seen as part of a Scottish Catholic rejection of Buchanan's interpretation of Scottish history, and in his foreshadowing of the “divine right of kings” an influence on events to come. His contemporary importance in this respect is shown by Gabriel Naudé's publication of his complete works in French and Latin in Paris in 1644, together with a eulogy and an engraving by Picart' (ODNB).