Diary of Thomas Burton, Esq. member in the Parliaments of Oliver and Richard Cromwell, from 1656 to 1659: now first published from the original autograph manuscript. With an introduction, containing an account of Parliament of 1654; from the journal of Guibon Goddard, Esq. M.P. …

London: Henry Colburn, 1828. FIRST EDITION. Engraved frontispieces in first three volumes. Beautifully bound in half-morocco and cloth, gilt lettering and decoration on spine, blind tooling, red stained fore-edge, marbled endpapers; interiors in excellent condition with minor foxing. From the library of John George Fenwick with his armorial bookplate. First edition, the first printing of Thomas Burton’s diary. The originally anonymous manuscript diary arrived at the British Museum in the early nineteenth century. John Towill Rutt (1760–1841), an editor and member of the Society for Constitutional Information, transcribed and commented on the diary. Rutt was also responsible for ascribing the diary to Burton, though that claim was challenged throughout the nineteenth until it was ultimately confirmed.

Burton (fl. 1656–1661) was a Member of Parliament, representing Westmorland during the protectorate parliaments of Oliver Cromwell and his son, Richard. During the Restoration in 1660, he supported Charles II, and was likely the same Thomas Burton who was appointed undersearcher in the Port of London and later knighted. Rutt also added excerpts from the diary of Guibon Goddard who served in the 1654-5 parliament. Burton’s diary covers the periods between December 3, 1656 and June 27, 1657, January 20 to February 4, 1658, and January 27 to April 22, 1659. The diary remains an invaluable resource for the insight it offers during the two protectorate parliaments.