A TRUE NARRATIVE OF THE HORRID PLOT AND CONSPIRACY OF THE POPISH PARTY AGAINST THE LIFE OF HIS SACRED MAJESTY, THE GOVERNMENT, AND THE PROTESTANT RELIGION (A SAMMELBAND OF NINE SEPARATE PAMPHLETS BOUND AS ONE) With a LIST of such Noblemen, Gentlemen, and others, as were the CONSPIRATORS: And the HEAD-OFFICERS both Civil and Military, that were to Effect it.; NINE SEPARATE PAMPHLETS bound together. In addition to the first (title) piece, 66 pp. in length: 2) THE NARRATIVE OF ROBERT JENISON, OF GRAYS-INN, ESQUIRE (I. A further Discovery and Confirmation of the Late Horrid and Treasonable Popish Plot, against His Majestie's Person, Government, and the Protestant Religion;; II: The Names of the Four Ruffians, designed to have murthered the King; III. The Reasons why this Discovery hath been so long deferred, by the said Robert Jenison; IV. An Order of His Majesty in Council touching the same. Together withother Material Passages, Letters, and Observations, thereupon. Together with a Preface Introductory to the sa

London, England: Printed for Thomas Parkhurst and Thomas Cockerill at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel, and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey, 1680. First Edition. Binding Fair; Text Very Good. Leatherbound. Quarto, 29 cm.x 18 cm. Full contemporary speckled calf, double ruled in blind, with a decorative pattern stamped adjacentfront and rear joints. Scuffing to front and rear boards, and some cracking to joints. Contrasting red spine labels for title; date stamped in gilt (below). Five raised bands (six compartments)
Some sections of these different pamphlets show mild age-tanning, but in the main, pages are very bright. One page shows both a cut and a tear, resulting in the loss of two or three words of the Errate to the Second Pamphlet (P. 51) Nice Large print. Wide margins. Titus Oates (1649 -1705), also called Titus the Liar, was an English perjurer who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles I. This resulted in a mass hysteria which resulted in the execution of at least 22 men, falsely accused. During this period, nine Jesuits were executed and twelve died in prison.

*Titus Oates, A True Narrative of the Horrid Plot and Conspiracy of the Popish Party, pp. [10], 67 missing first leaf (order to print), engraving of Oates, and last leaf (ESTC R26889).* Robert Jenison, The Narrative of Robert Jenison, pp. 51, [1]. Paper loss to lower corner of last leaf, affecting last few words of 3 lines. Four circular ink stains on last leaf, text not affected (ESTC R11080) * Stephen Dugdale, The Information of Stephen Dugdale, pp. [4], 11, [1] (ESTC R504) * Stephen Dugdale, The Further Information of Stephen Dugdale, pp. [2]. 20, [2]. Missing first leaf. Includes errata and advertisement (ESTC R505). * Thomas Dangerfield, The Information of Thomas Dangerfield, pp. 15, [1] (ESTC R6224). * Francisco de Faria, The Information of Francisco de Faria pp. [4]. 12 (ESTC R16386). * Edward Tubervill, The Information of Edward Turbervill, pp. 12 (ESTC R222425). * William Williams, The Examination of Captain William Bedlow Deceased, Relating to the Popish Plot, pp. 16 (ESTC R519) * David Fitzgerald, A Narrative of the Irish Popish Plot, [4], 35, [1] (ESTC R7381). Pages lightly tanned, text readable throughout.

Note from ESTC on Oates' pamphlet: Of three known settings, this setting has a line on the title page that begins "and others, as..." and the dedication for Charles II begins on leaf (a)1r. In the autumn of 1678, the failed Anglican curate Titus Oates set into motion a wave of anti-Catholic panic that engulfed the city of London. Oates claimed insider knowledge of a plot orchestrated by the Jesuits to assassinate King Charles II, install his Catholic brother, James, the Duke of York, on the throne, and rouse a foreign invasion to burn the city of London to the ground and slit the throats of Protestants.

Over the next few years Oates served as a paid informant to the King. Numerous people came forward to testify that a Catholic plot was imminent. As Oates's accusations grew increasingly bold, his stories were subject to more and more scrutiny. Eventually he was unmasked as an unscrupulous liar and his many tales unraveled. By this time, however, Oates's mendacity had whipped up widespread fear, engendered the Exclusion Crisis (1679-1681), and caused the execution of twenty-two men and the incidental death of another thirteen.

Oates published his tale of the Popish Plot, thereby informing the public of all the 'horrid' details. Accompanying this volume is a series of pamphlets relating to investigations into the Plot. The compiler of this bound volume is unknown. The entire episode produced an abundance of print media that helped to sensationalize the story. The official formatting of the pamphlets, often including an order to print from Parliament, lent further credence to the allegations.

Overall, a very curious, largely forgotten but no less important, episode about what people believe happened, as opposed to what actually happened. Of interest to those fascinated by conspiracies and English history.

Decidedly, Oates was a lowlife malcontent, who failed at every turn largely due to his ready willingess to lie, cheat, and fabricate vicious tales about those from whose power or positions he stood to gain,(He was also gay and had been persecuted or demoted several times because of this) In addition to not at all being liked by his father, Oates's near-constant duplicity can be catalogued, back to numerous incidents from the time he was a young man. William Smith, was his tutor who found Oates a dullard and, discovering that Oates had cheated him of his tuition fees, subsequently expelled him. And there are numerous subsequent accounts of this strange, unhappy and venal little man, stopping at nothing to gain popularity or notoriety. Oates later accused of playing a part in the Popish Plot. "...At Easter 1675 Oates accused the local schoolmaster, William Parker, of sodomy with one of his pupils. Oates wanted Parker's post but the accusation was false and resulted in Oates being bound over to appear at the next sessions on a charge of perjury. He fled to London and sought refuge as a naval chaplain in 1675 on the ship Adventure bound for Tangier. It was during his visit to Tangier, Oates later claimed, that he heard the first rumours of the Popish Plot that was to make his name... In reality he was probably motivated by the poverty in which he found himself, a craving for acceptance, and the potential for blackmail. Oates claimed that he soon became a prominent courier for the Jesuit order, but his conversion did little for his career and he remained unemployed. ...In the role of a poverty stricken convert Oates also took to begging from the Catholic priests at Somerset House and repaid their kindness with theft: he stole some of the host, which he afterwards boasted that he used as wafers to seal his letters..(ODNB).