Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

(the noel douglas replicas). a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing to the parliament of england.

Item Description

8vo. 9 x 7 inches. [ii] + 40 pp. Facsimile title page of 1644 edition. Bound in cream cloth with red spine title, blind stamped borders on boards enclosing decorative block. Rough cut edges. Spine worn, with some loss at tail and board edges sunned; otherwise a very good copy and clean interior. Decorated by by publisher's device on title page and by headpiece vignette at beginning of facsimile. A facsimile of 'Areopagitica' by John Milton November 1644. John Milton's famous pamphlet opposed the system of licensing and censorship established by Parliament's Licensing Order of 1643 and promoted the right to freedom of speech and expression. Reproduction of a copy in the Thomason Tracts in the British Museum. The firm of Noel Douglas, which existed 1920-31, was established by George Douglas Howard Cole (1889-1959), Fabian Society member and published the series of Replicas, 1926-28 ( A Series of Series website).