The Right of Succession to the Kingdom of England in Two Books; Against the Sophisms of Parsons the Jesuite, Who assum’d the Counterfeit Name of Doleman;
By which he endeavours to overthrow not only the Rights of Succession in the Kingdoms, but also the Sacred Authority of Kings themselves.
XX JN 357 f.C8
About the Book
This book was written by Sir Thomas Craig 100 years before this edition (~1603) and was translated from Latin to English by James Gatherer, then published in London 1703. Sir Thomas Craig was a Scottish poet, lawyer, and a strong advocate for King James I’s reign. This book was written in support of James I’s claim to the English Throne.
Sir Thomas Craig was born in 1538 in Aberdeenshire. He pursued civil law and worked as a justice depute and Scottish Commissioner.[1]
Our Copy’s Physical Description
The front cover of the book is a little beat up and it is made up of vellum. There is a large hole from a burn at the bottom of the book. Our copy also has a lot of indented writing on the cover, indicating it was used as a surface to write something on another paper or manuscript. Unfortunately, I was unable to figure out what was since it was all jumbled together and that I did not have the tools.
The spine of the book has a couple of cracks at the bottom and staining, but that is all I noticed on our copy. It says “Craig Against Doleman”, and has a gold leaf on it. There are water stains all over the outside of the book and has other liquids all over it.
The Origin
The book was published in London by M. Bennet for Dan Brown. This book was a reprint of a translated version of the book, and it was reprinted in 1703.
Ownership
Patrick Edmondstone of Newton (~1667-1760):
This is a bookplate of Patrick Edmondstone of Newton, a Jacobite supporter and someone who supported the rebellion in 1745. He was of Scottish descent and is believed to be from a line of famous Jacobite sympathizers that date back to the time of King James VI of Scotland. The original publishing of this book, in the original Latin, was around 1603, when James VI of Scotland became James I of England. It would make sense to see a Jacobite sympathizer in possession of a Book-Plate of Patrick Edmondstone of book arguing in favor of Jacob VI Newton himself. [2]
He is believed to be related to famous Jacobite rebels, and his immediate family has personally served many members of the Scottish royal family in the late 16th century to as late as the late 1700s.
His signature is written multiple times throughout the book, with different spellings of “Edmondstone” and “Newton”
He just writes his name many times throughout the back of the book.
Here it seems like he wrote a “P”, “E”, and “N”, for his initials-further solidifying that he was an owner of this book. But on the top right of the paper, it seems like a “£” symbol along with a number that looks like a “10”. This is not definitive, but it looks like a possibility.
I found some indented writing on the first couple of leaves, especially where Mr. Edmondstone wrote his initials
However, after altering the image in different ways, I could not get a clear image of the writing that was present there.
I found something similar at the back of the book, on the end leaves of the book, on the same page where Mr. Edmondstone signed his name multiple times.
Here, I could make a little bit of the writing out.
Here, I could make out a little bit of what was written. It looks a little bit like an “N”, followed by a flourish of “Pat-“.
I could only make out letters here and there, but it seems like it is just his signature again, this time indented into the paper instead of inked onto the page itself as if he was writing on top of it with another page on there.
Modern Day (1981)
The closest time I could to the present, 2021, was what looks like a librarians mark.
“PL” is supposedly the initials of the librarian, and “6-1981” could mean that this book was obtained or marked in June. of 1981. No other notes of institutions were mentioned in the book.
Sources
[1] https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/c2/sir_thomas_craig.html
[2]https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/130476/173730/patrick-
edmondstone/individual
Created by Harnoor Sidhu for Professor Brockey’s HST 475 class in the Fall of 2021.
