The Women's Petition Against Coffee
Famous 1674 London satirical broadside petition representing to publick consideration 'The Grand Inconveniencies accruing to their Sex from the Excessive Use of that Drying, Enfeebling Liquor'.
William Prynne: A New Discovery of the Prelates Tyranny
Title page of William Prynne's 1641 account of the Star Chamber and High Commission persecutions and ear-cropping of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton for seditious libel.
The World Turned Upside Down (English Civil War Satire)
Celebrated 1646 satirical broadside ballad protesting the overturn of church hierarchy, traditional holidays, and social order under parliamentary rule.
A Petition and An Agreement of the People
Foundational constitutional tract presented by the Council of Officers to the House of Commons proposing fundamental liberties and representative governance.
John Lilburne: The Picture of the Councel of State
Fiery Leveller narrative by John Lilburne, Richard Overton, and Thomas Prince detailing their unlawful arrest and interrogation in the Tower of London.
Lilburne: An Agreement of the Free People of England
The definitive Leveller manifesto setting forth universal male suffrage, annual parliaments, complete religious liberty, and equality before the law.
Lilburne: The Christian Martyr in the Tower
Engraved frontispiece and title page depicting 'Freeborn John' Lilburne defending his inherited constitutional liberties before the Commonwealth judges.
Luddites: We Petition No More — To Put Down All Machinery
Commemorative historical broadsheet by Shaun Slifer detailing the Midlands textile workers' armed resistance against hunger and wage-depressing shearing frames.
The Vindication of Christmas (1653 Royalist Satire)
Famous 1653 broadside tract protesting the Puritan Commonwealth's legal ban on Christmas, featuring Old Father Christmas welcoming good cheer against 'General Plunder & Major General Tax'.
Military Punishment: Flogging at the Triangle (Cat-o'-Nine-Tails)
19th-century engraving documenting the brutal disciplinary flogging of a British soldier tied to a wooden tripod triangle before assembled infantry regiments and a drummer—a target of radical broadside reform campaigns.
Lilburne: The Free-man's Freedom Vindicated (Thomason Tract)
Thomason Tract E.340[12] wherein John Lilburne proclaims natural law, fundamental liberties, and the illegitimacy of arbitrary detention by the House of Lords.
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Agreement of the People for a Firm Peace (Thomason Tract E.539[2])
New Model Army officers' constitutional petition presented to Parliament just ten days before the execution of King Charles I.
Lilburne: England's New Chains Discovered, Part II
Thomason Tract E.548[16] accusing Oliver Cromwell and the military grandees of establishing an unaccountable martial tyranny over the English Commonwealth.
![Lilburne: Picture of the Councel of State Held Forth (Thomason E.550[14])](GALLERY/23640-1649-04-04_Lilburne_CouncelState_TP508.jpg)
Lilburne: Picture of the Councel of State Held Forth (Thomason E.550[14])
Protest declaration demanding immediate habeas corpus, fair public trial by peers, and strict adherence to Magna Carta guarantees.
![William Walwyn: The English Souldiers Standard (Thomason E.550[19])](GALLERY/23641-1649-04-05_Walwyn_EnglishSouldiers_TP526.jpg)
William Walwyn: The English Souldiers Standard (Thomason E.550[19])
Leveller appeal to the rank-and-file soldiers of the Commonwealth army reminding them they fought for the people's liberties, not military masters.
![A Manifestation from John Lilburne & Fellow Prisoners (Thomason E.550[25])](GALLERY/23642-1649-04-14_Lilburne_Manifestation_TP436.jpg)
A Manifestation from John Lilburne & Fellow Prisoners (Thomason E.550[25])
Joint prison manifesto refuting state propaganda, denying accusations of communal property leveling, and affirming democratic constitutionalism.
![John Price: Walwyn's Wiles - The Levellers Unmasked (Thomason E.554[13])](GALLERY/23643-1649-04-23_Price_WalwynsWiles_TP561.jpg)
John Price: Walwyn's Wiles - The Levellers Unmasked (Thomason E.554[13])
Anti-Leveller polemic commissioned to discredit philosopher William Walwyn and portray democratic reformers as dangerous anarchists.
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Thomas Wood: The Levellers (Falsly So Called) Vindicated (Thomason E.571[11])
A vigorous defense of the Burford New Model Army mutineers and Leveller principles following Cromwell's suppression of the regiment at Burford church.
William Prynne: A New Discovery of the Prelates Tyranny (Archival Copy)
Rare 1641 book copy of Prynne's account detailing the brutal mutilation of puritan polemicists and their triumphant release by the Long Parliament.
Samuel Ward: Woe to Drunkards (Jacobean Satirical Sermon)
Famous 1622 woodcut sermon contrasting the martial piety of Elizabethan ancestors ('Thus of ould') with the drunken gambling and smoking of Jacobean youth ('Thus now').
Prynne, Burton & Bastwick in the Pillory (British Museum)
British Museum satirical engraving documenting Puritan pamphleteer William Prynne having his ears cropped in the pillory at Palace Yard, Westminster.
The Northern Star: Monument to Henry Hunt & The Peterloo Massacre
Front-page issue of Feargus O'Connor's Chartist newspaper featuring a grand commemorative engraving of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre in Manchester.
Execution of John Williams & Dinah Riddiford at Gloucester
Archival 1816 execution broadside recounting the public hanging of Williams and Riddiford under England's Bloody Code for stealing clothing and sides of bacon.
William Hogarth: A Midnight Modern Conversation
Wellcome Collection print after William Hogarth's celebrated 1732 satire showing London magistrates, parsons, and merchants collapsed in drunken debate around punch.
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An Agreement of the People: Foundations of Freedom
The seminal democratic draft of the Leveller movement, demanding popular sovereignty, decentralization, and an inviolable bill of rights.
Luddite Declaration: 'We Petition No More, Fighting Must'
High-contrast archival print of the Luddite declaration invoking General Ned Ludd to put down all automated machinery harmful to the commonality.
Public Meeting Broadside: Adoption of the National Petition (Walthamstow)
Rare 1839 Chartist forest meeting broadsheet calling the working men of Walthamstow, Leyton, and Wanstead to rally for universal suffrage and the People's Charter.
English Civil War Parliamentary Pamphlet (1642 Declaration)
Early wartime ordinance justifying the House of Commons' defensive military mobilization against King Charles I following the attempted arrest of the Five Members.
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To Him Pudel, Bite Him Peper: English Civil War Propaganda
Iconic satirical woodcut illustrating Prince Rupert's royalist poodle 'Boye' locked in battle with the roundhead parliamentarian dog 'Peper'.
Dying Speech and Confession of Unfortunate Malefactors (Newgate Gallows)
18th-century street literature broadside hawked at Newgate Prison recording convicts' last speeches and repentance prior to execution.
Hic Mulier: Or, The Man-Woman (Jacobean Satirical Woodcut)
Famous 1620 moralizing pamphlet and woodcut attacking London women for adopting masculine fashions, feathered hats, and carrying daggers.
Devizes Chartist Suppression Proclamation (High Sheriff & Special Constables)
Official town hall proclamation by the Mayor and High Sheriff of Devizes prohibiting Chartist public meetings and swearing in citizens as special constables.
William Horsfall Moorland Route: Alternative Equestrian Study (Edgar Giberne)
Demonstrative equestrian illustration showing a rider navigating harsh rural roads, exhibited as an alternative visual study of the terrain and journey of William Horsfall before the 1812 Crosland Moor ambush.
The Vertue of the Coffee Drink: Pasqua Rosée's First London Handbill
The earliest known coffeehouse advertisement in England, published by Pasqua Rosée in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill, establishing London's coffee culture.
Royal Proclamation Against Luddite Riots & Frame-Breaking
Crown broadside proclamation declaring the breaking of stocking frames a capital felony punishable by death, warning framework knitters in Nottinghamshire.
The Projector / The Monopolist Satirical Woodcut
Satirical broadside depicting a corrupt crown patent-holder surrounded by wine pipes, soap barrels, and leather hides that enriched royal cronies.
Murder Demands Justice: Proclamation for Apprehension of Mill Assassins
Dramatic reward placard published after the assassination of Yorkshire shearing-frame owner William Horsfall, offering large sums for witness testimony.
Assassination of Mill Owner William Horsfall on Crosland Moor
Historical broadsheet engraving recording the ambush of industrialist William Horsfall by Luddites George Mellor, William Thorpe, and Thomas Smith in April 1812.
National Charter League Notice (The Northern Star)
Notice from The Northern Star newspaper coordinating delegates and meetings for the National Charter League across northern industrial towns.
Parliamentary Declaration: Ordinance of Lords and Commons (Page 16)
Broadside page detailing parliamentary ordinances for maintaining the army and collecting taxes for the defense of the realm.
Radcliffe Cotton Mill Arson Reward Poster (£200 Reward, Stockport)
Proclamation issued by solicitor J. Lloyd offering £200 reward for information on incendiarists who torched William Radcliffe's cotton mill in Stockport.
Nottingham Reward Poster: Frame-Breaking Informers (50 Guineas Reward)
Official town hall handbill offering fifty guineas reward to any accomplice who impeaches his fellows engaged in breaking stocking frames.
William Prynne: The Perpetuitie of a Regenerate Mans Estate
Title page of William Prynne's earliest published theological treatise, printed in London in 1626 defending Calvinist perseverance of the saints.
London Coffeehouse Exterior: Street Facade & Architecture
Historical architectural engraving documenting the street facade and entrance of an early London coffeehouse, illustrating what early public houses and coffee establishments looked like from the outside.
Triptych of Luddite Reward Posters (Stockport, Huddersfield, Nottingham)
Comparative visual exhibition of three famous crown and magistracy posters offering rewards for information on frame-breaking and industrial arson.
Attack on Cartwright's Mill at Rawfolds (Luddite Rebellion)
Side-by-side engravings depicting William Cartwright's fortified cloth mill at Rawfolds before and during the fierce night assault by armed Luddites in April 1812.
The Loyall Sacrifice: Royalist Commemorative Broadside
Royalist memorial print portraying the summary military execution of Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle following the Siege of Colchester.
The Resolution of the Women of London to Parliament (British Library)
British Library broadside showing London gentlewomen petitioning the Commons to defend civic trade and send their husbands to war against royalist forces.
Tom King's Coffee House Interior, Covent Garden (British Museum)
British Museum satirical engraving capturing the riotous nocturnal mix of aristocrats, beggars, gamblers, and ladies of the night in Covent Garden.
Habits and Attire of English Civil War Women (Wenceslaus Hollar)
Plate from Wenceslaus Hollar's famous costume series recording the street dress and headwear of English merchant women during the Civil War period.
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William Prynne: Survey of Parliamentary Writs (1st Edition, 1659)
Title page of Prynne's monumental legal compendium surveying historical parliamentary writs, elections, and privileges from the Norman era to the Commonwealth.
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William Prynne: Seasonable, Legal & Historicall Vindication (1655)
Treatise arguing for the supreme legislative authority of traditional parliaments and the illegality of military councils abolishing the House of Lords.
William Horsfall Ambush Setting: Lone Rider on Horseback (After Wootton)
Classical equestrian composition of a lone gentleman rider traversing moorland, presented as an alternative demonstration of William Horsfall's solitary horseback journey before his assassination.
Mercury-Woman & Ballad Pedlar's Lamentation
Historical woodcut depicting an itinerant woman carrying an armful of news sheets and ballads, chanting 'Ye maidens and men, come for what you lack'.
Presbyterian & Anabaptist: The Case of Mary Champion (British Museum)
British Museum woodcut print illustrating contemporary religious polemics between Presbyterians and Anabaptists during the explosion of radical sectarians in London.
Chartist Demonstration Handbill (Kennington Common, John Arnott)
Historic April 10, 1848 handbill signed by John Arnott organizing the peaceful march to Kennington Common for the presentation of the third Monster Petition.
The Six Points of the People's Charter (Restored Top Header)
Historic 1838 Chartist broadside published by the Working Men's Association. Top header completed: 'THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER: THE SIX POINTS OF THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER' covering Universal Suffrage, No Property Qualification, Annual Parliaments, Equal Representation, Payment of Members, and Vote by Ballot.
Parliamentary Propaganda: Cavalier Outrages and Cruelties
Frontispiece broadside illustrating alleged atrocities committed by Prince Rupert's royalist cavalry against civilian townsfolk at the outbreak of civil war.
The Six Points of the People's Charter (Full Unabridged Restoration)
Completed full-text restoration of the historic 1838 Chartist broadside, restoring the clipped top headline 'THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER' and 'THE SIX POINTS OF THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER' with unabridged 19th-century woodblock typography.
Rules and Orders of the London Coffee-House (Patrons in Debate)
Contemporary engraving depicting citizens gathered in a London coffeehouse around long tables, smoking pipes, reading gazettes, and exchanging political news.
London Coffeehouse Political Assembly
Archival woodcut depicting the egalitarian atmosphere of early coffeehouses where tradesmen, scholars, and politicians conversed over dishes of Turkish coffee.
Puritan Pamphlet: The Ducking Stool for Scolds
Woodcut from an early modern pamphlet illustrating the customary punishment of outspoken women by immersion in a pond using a pivoted wooden ducking stool.
The Character of a Coffee-House (Opening Verse & Header)
Opening page of the 1673 satirical tract celebrating coffeehouses as places where 'men such cordial broth carowse' and debate foreign wars for the price of a penny.
London Street Cryer & Mercury Women Broadsheet Sellers
Engraving illustrating the brave itinerant women known as 'Mercury Women' who hawked parliamentary tracts and unlicensed broadsheets through Cheapside.
Royal Proclamation Prohibiting Chartist Torchlight Meetings
Whitehall proclamation warning subjects that night-time gatherings in defense of the People's Charter are seditious assemblies punishable by imprisonment.
The Northern Star: Peterloo Massacre Commemorative Front Page
Front-page issue of the leading Chartist newspaper with woodcut engraving commemorating the victims of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre.
Pasqua Rosée: The Vertue of the Coffee Drink Handbill (British Museum)
Original 1652 handbill preserved in the British Museum advertising Pasqua Rosée's coffee stall at St Michael's Alley, Cornhill.
News from the Coffee-House: A Poem (1667 Broadside)
Satirical broadside verse published during the Second Anglo-Dutch War mocking coffeehouse patrons who claim to know state secrets better than the Privy Council.
Garraway's Coffee House Facade (Exchange Alley, London)
Architectural view of Garraway's Coffee House in Exchange Alley, famed for over two centuries as the center of maritime trade auctions.
Site of the Grecian Coffee House (Devereux Court, London)
Historic engraving of Devereux Court off the Strand, former site of the celebrated Grecian Coffee House patronized by Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Richard Steele.
London Street Cries: 'Buy an new Booke' (Weekly Intelligencer Hawker)
Detail from a 17th-century London street cries engraving depicting an itinerant news hawker carrying parliamentary corantos and shouting 'Buy an new Booke'.
General Ned Ludd: King of the Frame-Breakers (Hand-Colored Engraving)
Hand-colored engraving depicting the mythical leader of the Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire textile rebellion dressed in ceremonial attire.
Grecian Coffee House / T. Allen Colonial Merchant (Historical Engraving)
Look and Learn illustration of the Georgian building in Devereux Court that housed the historic Grecian Coffee House.
The Six Points of the People's Charter (Signatories at British Coffee House)
Landmark placard listing the Six Points along with the signatories from the historic meeting at the British Coffee House in Cockspur Street, London.
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The Character of a Coffee-House: With the Symptomes of a Town-Wit
Title page of Jonathan Edwin's 1673 satirical London pamphlet skewering the posturing and gossip of self-styled coffeehouse wits.
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The Domestic Weaving Workshop (Pre-Industrial Cottage System)
Hand-colored engraving depicting a multi-generational artisan family carding, spinning, and operating a wooden domestic handloom before factory mechanization.
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The Shooting of William Horsfall on Horseback (1812 Luddite Ambush)
Dramatic illustration of mill owner William Horsfall being shot from plantation woods while riding his horse on Crosland Moor on April 28, 1812.
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An Agreement of the People for a Firme Peace (Original 1647 Edition)
The historic first edition title page of the Leveller Agreement of the People presented by the New Model Army agitators during the Putney Debates.
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John Lilburne Behind Prison Bars (Freeborn John, 1646)
Celebrated 1646 engraving by George Glover showing Leveller leader John Lilburne behind the prison bars of the Tower of London.
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John Lilburne: London's Liberty in Chains Discovered (1646)
First page of John Lilburne's October 1646 constitutional pamphlet attacking the corporate monopoly and oligarchy of the City of London.
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A Declaration of Some Proceedings of Lt. Col. John Lilburn (1648)
Parliamentary report examining Leveller petitions distributed across London and Kent, with testimony from minister Masterson of Shoreditch.
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Inland Revenue Caution to Hawkers & Pedlars (1859 Broadside)
Victorian government broadside issued from Somerset House warning street hawkers and chapmen that licenses must be renewed under pain of prosecution.
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Marcellus Laroon: A Merry New Song (Tempest's Cries of London)
Late 17th-century engraving by Marcellus Laroon portraying a female itinerant street singer selling broadside ballads to a passing London gentleman.
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The Cucking-Stool / Ducking-Stool Mechanism for Scolds
Historical wood engraving illustrating the pivoted wooden beam and armchair mechanism used in early modern England to punish scolds and brawlers.
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Trial of Luddite Frame-Breakers: The 'Loughborough Job'
Title heading of the 1816 trial proceedings against James Towle, John Slater, and Benjamin Badder for the famous raid on Heathcoat and Boden's lace factory.
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Execution of Loughborough Luddites at Leicester (Gallows Broadside)
Execution broadside with gallows woodcut recording the hanging of six Loughborough Luddites on the New Drop at Leicester Prison for breaking lace machinery.
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The Stocking Frame Knitting Machine (Target of the Luddites)
Detailed mechanical plate of the William Lee stocking frame knitting machine that was methodically targeted and dismantled by Nottinghamshire Luddites.
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Chartist National Convention Delegate Election Poster (Oldham)
1848 Chartist placard calling an assembly at the Working Man's Hall in Oldham to elect a delegate for the historic National Convention in London.
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Fraternity of Framework-Knitters Membership Certificate (Rev. Lee 1589)
Engraved 1791 trade union certificate of the Ilkeston Society of Framework-Knitters featuring Rev. William Lee demonstrating his 1589 stocking knitting machine.
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Monster Meeting Broadside: Englishmen, Irishmen & Scotchmen Unite (Stalybridge)
Chartist broadside calling for solidarity across English, Irish, and Scottish workers at the Abbey Inn in Stalybridge during the spring of 1848.
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Origin of Ned Ludd & The Stocking Frame (1812 Press Cutting)
Contemporary 1812 newspaper article recounting the Leicestershire origin story of apprentice Ned Ludd smashing his master's knitting frame with a hammer.
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The Six Points of the People's Charter (Full Uncropped Broadside)
Complete, uncropped 1838 Chartist broadside clearly displaying the top banner title 'The Six Points of the People's Charter' and all six democratic demands.
Mercury Woman: Distributing Britain's Early News Gazettes (Tempest)
Marcellus Laroon engraving showing a Mercury Woman carrying printed news gazettes through the streets of London during the early news wars.
Levellers' Declaration Dispersal by Underground Couriers
Curatorial presentation highlighting the dangerous underground network of couriers who smuggled Leveller pamphlets into parliamentary garrisons.
The Many-Headed Multitude Political Allegory (Populist Crowd)
English Civil War political woodcut portraying the populist crowd as a mythical multi-headed beast confronting magistrates and bishops.
John Lilburne in Exile and Imprisonment (Aged 49, Wellcome Collection)
Wellcome Collection copperplate portrait of John Lilburne behind an iron grille during his 1653 trial at the Old Bailey, inscribed 'All flesh is Grass'.
A Most Certain, Strange, and True Discovery of a Witch at Newbury
Sensational 1643 Civil War broadside depicting a royalist woman alleged to surf upon a wooden plank across the river Thames at Newbury.
The Resolution of the Women of London to Parliament ('Go to the wars')
Civil War broadside with woodcut showing a London woman urging her husband with pike and knapsack to march to the wars for King and Parliament.
A Pack of Patentees: Satirical Woodcut Title Cut
Satirical woodcut illustrating monopolies over wine, soap, and playing cards, with monopolists fleeing parliamentary investigation.
John Lilburne: England's New Chains Discovered, Part II (Title Page)
Full title page of Lilburne's 1649 petition directed to the Supreme Authority of England representing the dangerous condition of the Commonwealth.
William Hogarth: A Rake's Progress - The Gaming House
Plate VI of Hogarth's moral series: Tom Rakewell desperately curses his losses at White's gaming club as highwaymen count gold and fire breaks out.
Smug the Smith upon the White Horse (The Merry Devil of Edmonton)
Early Stuart comic woodcut depicting Smug the smith escaping the deer-keepers by climbing upon the sign of the White Horse Inn.
London Coffeehouse Interior: Political Assembly & Clay Pipes
Famous 17th-century engraving of a bustling London coffeehouse with gentlemen in periwigs smoking clay pipes and reading news gazettes.
The Six Points of the People's Charter (Thackray Museum Display)
Display placard of the landmark petition calling for universal male suffrage, equal constituencies, vote by secret ballot, and payment of MPs.
Tom's Coffee House, Great Russell Street, London
1865 architectural lithograph of Tom's Coffee House in Covent Garden, established in 1700 and frequented by Dr. Johnson, Garrick, and Reynolds.
The Men's Answer to the Women's Petition Against Coffee (1674)
Title page of the 1674 London pamphlet rebutting the Women's Petition, defending the virility of London men and praising coffee as sober and wholesome.
The Turncoats & Time-Servers: Satirical Broadside
Allegorical woodcut satire mocking opportunistic politicians and clergymen who rapidly flipped allegiances between King, Parliament, and Protectorate.
Richard Overton: An Alarum to the House of Lords (1646)
Title page of Richard Overton's fiery July 1646 Leveller tract defending 'that Worthy COMMONER, Lieutenant Col. JOHN LILBURNE' against the peers.
Historical Broadsheet: What is a Luddite?
Archival document explaining the socio-economic context of northern cloth workers resisting mechanical wide-frame wage cuts.
Archbishop William Laud and the Bishops Satirical Cut
Anti-episcopal broadside satirizing the downfall and imprisonment of Archbishop Laud in the Tower of London.
William Prynne: Brief Register and Survey, Part II (Restoration Edition)
Title page of Prynne's monumental 1660 survey of parliamentary records, ancient statutes, and constitutional liberties.
The Resolution of the Women of London to Parliament (Wing R1156)
Title page and woodcut of Wing R1156: The Resolution of the Women of London to Parliament printed for William Watson in 1642.
Witches Assembly and Nocturnal Spells Woodcut
Early modern woodcut illustrating folk demonology, familiars, and nocturnal gatherings from a contemporary witchcraft pamphlet.
Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed (Northamptonshire Trials)
Rare 1613 pamphlet woodcut depicting Mother Sutton and Mary Sutton of Milton Miles, tried and executed for witchcraft in Northamptonshire.