'Eikon Basilike' means 'portrait of the king'. Traditionally Charles I has been identified as the author, but there has been some controversy over this since John Gauden, Bishop of Worcester, emerged as a probable ghostwriter in the 1690s. It is now thought to have been a collaboration between Gauden and the King. The book reviews the course of the civil wars from the calling of the Long Parliament in 1640 to Charles's imprisonment at Carisbrooke Castle in 1647, and defends the King's policies. It is part political memoir, part spiritual autobiography, presenting Charles as the defender of both Church and State.

The first edition of Eikon Basilike was in print around the time of Charles I's execution on 30 January 1648/9. Despite the government’s attempts to suppress the words of the King they had just executed, Eikon Basilike became an immediate best-seller: it was one of the most influential books of the seventeenth century. In 1649 alone thirty-five editions were published in England, with a further twenty-five issued elsewhere in Europe. The book's portrayal of Charles as a moderate, peace-loving ruler transformed opinion of his execution so that it came to be viewed by many as an act of martyrdom.

This copy of Eikon Basilike is numbered 21 in the bibliography published by Francis F. Madan. The extensive, contemporary gold tooling on the covers, including the 'CR' monogram for Charles I, is complimented by portrait medallions of the king on the book's metal clasps. In the nineteenth century the book's decoration was thought to indicate that it had been bound for Charles I's son and ultimate successor, Charles II, to give as a presentation copy, but there is no other evidence for this. However, the elaborate decoration does indicate the high status in which the book, believed to be from the pen of the executed monarch himself, was held by its original owners. The interest in Charles I's words at the book's publication has continued over the centuries. An engraved portrait of Charles I has been pasted into the book, there are extensive manuscript notes inside which discuss the book's authorship, and annotations in different hands accompany the book's printed text throughout, showing that it has been read closely numerous times.


Bibliographic and Binding Details

[4], 302, [7] p., 2 leaves of plates (1 folded) : ill., port.

Full leather bound in brown goat, with central gold tooled design comprising of several different stamps of scrolls, volutes, budding flowers and swirls, surmounted by a Crown underneath which initials C.R., within border frame of decorative fillets and rolls with tooling to inner and outer corners, within larger border frame comprised of same decorative fillets and rolls. Silver clasps to fore-edge with unusual medallions of Charles I, missing fore-edge tie.