Volume 1

A bibliography of royal proclamations of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns and of others published under authority, 1485-1714 / With an historical essay on their origin and use, by Robert Steele.

  • James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A bibliography of royal proclamations of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns and of others published under authority, 1485-1714 / With an historical essay on their origin and use, by Robert Steele. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Record Office at Dublin then kept in the Bermingham Tower, the General Register House, Edinburgh, the Advocates and Signet Libraries, Edinburgh, together with those contained in the Registers of the Privy Council of Scotland and the Gazettes, Edinburgh and Dublin. This brought me up to 1893, and by March I had issued what I called a Hand-List of Proclama- tions, subject to revision and dealing with the reigns of King Henry VHI to Queen Anne, containing about 5,500 in aU. I printed 50 copies of this small folio, thinking that a sufficient number for a confessedly incomplete work. The greater part of these were presented to Public Libraries, but unfortunately I have no note of the distribution. The volume closed with Queen Anne as being the last of the Stuart Dynasty. After the 1893 edition had been sent out I continued my Hand-Lists—and printed several supple- ments, and a second and third volume up to the date of the death of her late Majesty Queen Victoria; thus Yol. II contained George I—Wm. IV (1714-1837), 5,776 Prods.; and Vol. HI, Victoria (1837-1901), 8,576 Prods. Though there are many thousand entries during this period there are few cases of the actual broadside Proclamations surviving, as fashion seemed to have changed after the death of Queen Anne, and few collected them during the reigns of the Georges and subsequent monarchs. The result is that nine-tenths at least of this period has been extracted from the Official Gazettes, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. As I had many other matters on hand this process of extraction was done for me by Mr. H. Guppy, who at the time was one of the librarians of the Sion College and who now occupies the position of Chief Custodian of the John Rylands Library at Manchester, and who lives in familiar intercourse with Lord Spencer’s Printed Books and my Manuscripts ! In the preface to this Hand-List I made the promise that I would in time convert what was but a string of empty titles into a catalogue misonnee, giving full bibliographical details with a precis of the contents of each Proclamation, followed by a full index of subjects, names, and places. This Hand-List being completed to the death of Queen Victoria, I directed my attention to the fulfilment of my promise—and conscious of the limited time at my disposal I sought for external assistance to carry out my views, and met Mr. Robert Steele, to whom I entrusted the work in the year 1904. My promise is now made good in these two volumes, but, as will be seen, I have considerably enlarged the scope of the work. Hitherto I had confined my work, with few exceptions, to such Proclamations that could be found in type. But the unprinted, often unknown Proclamations of the early Tudor and Stuart reigns were well worthy of careful record, and Mr. Steele suggested that these MSS. should also be calendared, and references should be given to the originals. While engaged on this early period, he found many interesting side views of the subject which he duly noted and followed up. These notes he showed me, and I encouraged him to embody and extend them in such a manner as to form an introduction or monograph of the history, origin, and methods adopted in the three kingdoms. This again led to the discovery of other Proclamations only existing in manuscript, which are now incorporated in the catalogue. The preparation of this monograph has entailed an immense amount of work upon Mr. Steele, but I feel confident that its value is fully commensurate with the labour expended. A chronological table of entries of Proclamations would be of little service to historians without a full index of the subjects treated upon, the notable events chronicled, and lastly, and perhaps the most important, the names of all persons who are mentioned, either as signatories, or cited therein for any reasons; for example, royal grants or patents to individuals, and again orders or rewards for the apprehension of highwaymen, rebels, &c. This index will be, I think, of great value and assistance, as the variety of subject-matter treated