This collection of 363 English broadsides published between 1629 and 1756 includes almost 100 official publications, together with political and religious tracts, news-sheets, accounts of crimes, trials and executions, and satires and 'lybels' in verse and prose. It was acquired from the London bookseller, H.M. Fletcher, in 1976.
The collection is focused on political material. Well-represented names and events include:
- Titus Oates and the Popish Plot
- Rye House Plot
- Progress of Lord Russell, Algernon Sidney, and Sir Thomas Armstrong to Tyburn
- Death of the Earl of Essex in the Tower of London
- Popular agitation in favour of Charles II’s illegitimate son, the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, and against the legitimate and Catholic heir James Duke of York
- Murder of Thomas Thynne of Longleat.
The acquisition of the Fletcher Broadside Collection complemented 75 broadsides published between 1672 and 1699 already held by the Turnbull Library. Together, the collections document most of the major political and religious concerns of the years 1660 to 1700.
Further information about the collection can be found in '"A sort of appeal to the people" : a recent acquisition of English broadsides and broadsheets 1641-1714' by J.E. Traue, Turnbull Library Record 11 (1978), pp 104-111.
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