How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

London: Printed by the Assigns of John Bill, and by Henry Hills, and Thomas Newcomb, March 12, 1683/84. Printed broadside, comprised of two sheets; 22 x 15 in. (559 x 381 mm). Large woodcut initial and woodcut royal arms. Creasing from old folds; upper and lower left edge trimmed to text, repair at center of same. Steele, I 3757; ESTC R213166

This rare royal proclamation, issued by King Charles II during the golden age of piracy, establishes strict regulations for maritime trade and navigation in order to curb "the Piratical Practices, Depredations, and Insolencies (sic) of Private Men of War, and others pretending Commission." Although applicable throughout the English realm, the decree was prompted by a surge of unsanctioned piracy in the Caribbean and along the North Atlantic, which was disrupting English commerce and threatening to violate the 1670 treaty between England and Spain that had resolved territorial disputes in the Americas.

This document outlines seven specific mandates, such as requiring neutrality within ports and areas under British protection, forbidding men of war from cruising near English coasts, dictating how warships must behave toward merchant vessels while in port, and ordering Vice Admirals and other officers to inspect and confiscate ships suspected of privateering. The proclamation also clarifies the rights of foreign privateers and their cargo, while forbidding English subjects from trading with unauthorized vessels, and banning English citizens from serving on ships belonging to foreign princes or states, commanding any currently doing so to return to English service immediately, "upon pain of being Reputed and Punished as Pirats (sic)."

We cannot locate another copy on RBH as having come to auction. ESTC locates only four other copies in the United States, and 14 copies in the United Kingdom and Ireland.