(WAT TYLER). ~ The History of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. ‘Printed and sold in London’, [n.d., c. 1760-1769.
12mo (155 × 90 mm), pp. 24, large woodcut to title-page, 2 woodcuts in text and final tailpiece (the arms of the City of London). Printed on poor quality paper, slightly browned and dusty, with a few minor paper flaws, impressions variable. Stitched as issued, spine expertly repaired. A very good copy.
A popular eighteenth-century chapbook, one of several on the subject of Wat Tyler and the Peasant’s Revolt. The text is perjorative towards both Tyler, Straw and his fellow rebels, seeing them as traitors to the realm. The final page bears the woodcut arms of the City of London and the text explains the (apocryphal) story that the incorporated dagger represents the weapon used by Sir William Walworth to slay Tyler (though the arms do indeed date from 1381, the dagger is actually the emblem of the martyrdom of St Paul). ESTC t36566, listing the National Library of Scotland copy only.