A plea for the Lords: or, a short, yet full and necessary vindication of the judiciary and legislative power of the House of Peeres, and the hereditary just right of the lords and barons of the realme, to sit, vote and judge in the high court of Parliament. London: Printed for Michael Spark, 1648

London: Printed for Michael Spark, 1648. FIRST EDITION. Woodcut initials and headpieces. Calf-backed marbled boards, spine label, new endpapers; an excellent copy. First edition. Prynne here writes in defense of the legitimacy of members of the House of Peers (Lords) as a governing upper chamber of a representative parliament government. One of his earliest forays into politics during the Civil War, Prynne, a Royalist, directly refutes anti-monarchy pamphlets written by his long-time nemesis John Lilburne as well as Sectaries, Levellers, Anabaptists, and “their dangerous Confederates” who had been gaining power at the time. Prynne describes himself here as “a well-wisher to both Houses of Parliament, and the Republike; now exceedingly shaken and indangered in the very foundation.”

Prynne (1600–69) was a prolific pamphleteer who wrote on numerous subjects from theater to theology, and published about 200 books and pamphlets during his lifetime. An expanded second edition was printed in 1658.