Item #139442 The Trial of Thomas Muir, Esq., Younger of Huntershill; before the High Court of Justiciary, upon Friday and Saturday the 30th and 31st days of August, 1793. On a Charge of Sedition. The whole accurately taken down in Short-Hand. With an Elegant Portrait of Mr Muir. To which is annexed, an Appendix; containing all the Papers referred to in the course of the Trial. Transportation, Thomas MUIR.
The Trial of Thomas Muir, Esq., Younger of Huntershill; before the High Court of Justiciary, upon Friday and Saturday the 30th and 31st days of August, 1793. On a Charge of Sedition. The whole accurately taken down in Short-Hand. With an Elegant Portrait of Mr Muir. To which is annexed, an Appendix; containing all the Papers referred to in the course of the Trial
The Trial of Thomas Muir, Esq., Younger of Huntershill; before the High Court of Justiciary, upon Friday and Saturday the 30th and 31st days of August, 1793. On a Charge of Sedition. The whole accurately taken down in Short-Hand. With an Elegant Portrait of Mr Muir. To which is annexed, an Appendix; containing all the Papers referred to in the course of the Trial
The Trial of Thomas Muir, Esq., Younger of Huntershill; before the High Court of Justiciary, upon Friday and Saturday the 30th and 31st days of August, 1793. On a Charge of Sedition. The whole accurately taken down in Short-Hand. With an Elegant Portrait of Mr Muir. To which is annexed, an Appendix; containing all the Papers referred to in the course of the Trial

The Trial of Thomas Muir, Esq., Younger of Huntershill; before the High Court of Justiciary, upon Friday and Saturday the 30th and 31st days of August, 1793. On a Charge of Sedition. The whole accurately taken down in Short-Hand. With an Elegant Portrait of Mr Muir. To which is annexed, an Appendix; containing all the Papers referred to in the course of the Trial

Edinburgh, Alexander Scott, Gazetteer Office, [1793] (first thus)/ 1793.

Octavo, [ii], xxii, 72, 8 (appendix) pages plus an engraved portrait by J. Kay.

Nineteenth century quarter cloth (lettered in gilt) and plain papered boards, retaining the original front wrapper; boards lightly worn at the corners, and a little marked and unevenly discoloured; endpapers offset; small section (10 × 60 mm) clipped from the head of the front wrapper; scattered foxing; a very good copy.

One of the earliest editions of this popular pamphlet, with Ferguson giving precedence only to the London editions of Robertson and Simpson. He does not note the wrappers for this edition of the same year. On the verso of the front wrapper is a short printed note indicating that the profits 'were left to be disposed of in any Charitable manner which Mr Muir might direct; and he has desired them to be given for the Relief of Poor Prisoners. Tho' this Publication was advertised at One Shilling and Sixpence, it is found necessary to raise the price to Two Shillings, on account of its having run to a greater length than was first expected ...'.

Thomas Muir (1765-1799), lawyer and political reformer, 'was sentenced to transportation to Australia for sedition, in support of the French Revolution and Irish independence, and agitation for parliamentary reform. He is among the five men honored by the Scottish Political Martyrs Monument in Edinburgh. Another monument in Muir's honor stands in Huntershill Village, the site of his estate' (National Library of Australia). In February 1796 he escaped on an American ship; the short account in the 'Australian Dictionary of Biography' of the last three years of his life makes bleak reading.

Provenance: Henry Bateson, with his pictorial bookplate [Peake 345] and ownership signature on the front endpaper. Charles Henry Bateson (1903-1974), NZ-born Australian journalist and historian, had an especial interest in the maritime history of Australia. In 'The Convict Ships 1787-1868' (Glasgow, 1959) 'he sought first to stir the readers' imagination by 'sketching the story of the quest for the great southern continent", then to contrast the adventurous spirit of those who participated with the "drab motives" of the officials involved in dispatching the first fleet. He viewed the convicts as the real pioneers of Australia' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography').

Ferguson 160.

Item #139442

Price (AUD): $650.00

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