Faction Displayd, First Edition (2 results)

Hardcover. 1st Edition. 8vo. 21cm, first edition, [4],20p., author's preface, bound in modern grey paper over boards, leaves toned, paper label, title faded, very good to fine condition (lt). ~ A long satirical poem against the Whig Party by Tory and Jacobite, William Shippen (1673 1743) railing against the Liberal Government's policy of moderation. Although both tracts were published anonymously, Alexander Pope established Shippen as author. William Shippen served as a Tory Member of Parliament from 1707 to 1743.

4to, pp. [iv], 20; bound in full polished calf, gilt, spine and inner dentelles gilt, red morocco label, by Riviere. A fine large copy, with outer edges untrimmed, but with some pale waterstains. First edition. William Shippen 1675-1745) received his degree from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1694, and was called to the bar in 1699. In the early years of the reign of Anne he became much involved in the increasingly contentious world of politics, and sought to establish himself as a Tory polemicist. This poem, depicting the junto lords as conspirators in the manner of Catiline, was his first publication, and it appears to have attracted a good deal of attention, as a reply from the Whigs appeared almost immediately. The piece was at first widely attributed to Matthew Prior, who explicitly denied having anything to do with it, but Shippen's authorship is confirmed by Giles Jacob, and by Alexander Pope, in a note in his copy of A New Collection of Poems relating to State Affairs (1705), now in the British Library. Pope later came to know Shippen well, when he was a leader of the Jacobite party in House of Commons. An early owner has identified a passage on p. 15, characterising 'Bibliopolo' the bookseller, as referring to Jacob Tonson. Foxon S427.