The Romish Ecclesiastical History of Late Years

London: John Roberts, 1714. First edition. Leather_bound. Very Good. 4 3/4 x 7 1/8 inches. 8vo. pp. [14], xii, vi, 167, [1]: 1 ffep + engraving + title page + 6 unnumbered leaves (dedication) + xii (preface) + vi (contents) + 167 numbered pages + 1 unnumbered page. Collates as A + a + B - L (in 8s) + M (4 leaves). Bound in full paneled calf with five raised bands and red spine label "Steele Romish Histor" to spine. Front board detached. Rear board holding by cords. Two small areas of loss to front board. Corners rounded with slight loss. Contains lists of monastic institutions and a table of fees for absolutions, dispensations, indulgences, licenses, etc., as well as excerpts of papal pronouncements of interest to English Protestants. ESTCN64449; ESTCT146635. With the engraved frontispiece of a papal consistory by Du Guernier, which is explained at pages 38 - 39. Also with the normally canceled leaf F8 (the text repeated, with one amendment, on G1). Other stubs preceding a1, B4, B5, D1 (two stubs), and E7 suggest a degree of chaos in the printing house. Steele was prominent in the Whigs' print campaign of the later years of Anne's reign. In 1714, he published his incendiary 'seasonable remarks on the danger of a Popish successor' in The Crisis. The pamphlet led to his expulsion from the House of Commons, leaving Steele with more time to write. This volume, published later in the year, continues with his anti-Catholic campaign, and is 'design'd to expose the prophanation of true religion by the artifices of the church of Rome'. The main text purports to be a translation from an Italian document describing the canonisation of Pope Pius V, with dedication, preface, introductory paragraphs, and running commentary by Steele. Rothschild 1955.