Description

[005068] [Horne Tooke, John]; Treason Trials. Trial By Jury, the Grand Palladium of British Liberty. [London]: Wilson [Printer], First Edition. Folio. Unbound. Silk. Good. Broadside printed on silk, approximately 240mm x 305mm in size, n.d. but probably late 1794, or very early 1795

Light surface soiling, a couple of patches of foxing and a few spots of discolouring, minor creasing, very minor fraying to top and bottom edges (possibly as issued?), linen hinge to left hand side

Celebrating the acquittal of John Horne Tooke, who had, with Thomas Hardy and John Thelwall, been indicted for high treason. The jury only took minutes to acquit him. The broadside names the twelve gentlemen of the jury, as well as Tooke’s lawyers

The ESTC has a song sheet with the same title, and a similar broadside printed by the radical Daniel Isaac Eaton, but not this. The printer was Wilson, the BBTI gives three possible Wilson’s – Andrew, Effingham, and William

It seems likely that this would have only been produced in small numbers, perhaps as a memento for the members of the jury and the principal protagonists?

For Horne Tooke, see Baylen and Gossman, Biographical Dictionary of Modern Radicals, Volume 1: 1770-1830, pages 490-493.

Unrecorded