A Sight of the Trans-actions of these latter yeares...

First of all, I love the way that this book calls attention to its own reading in the full title: "A Sight of the Tranſ-actions of theſe latter yeares Emblemized with Ingraven Plates, which men may Read without Spectacles." Next to the title, a librarian with modern hand has added in ink, "By John Vicars." (The same hand added "Crynnes | Olim g21.", above). For his part, Vicars identifies himself as the collector on the final page (D4r), since the text itself reports several public speeches, petitions, and prayers, including:

• The Proteſtation [of Pym, Laighton, Smart, Walker, Foxley, Lilborn, and others] (A4v)
• The Earl of Straffords Speech on the Scaffold (B1r)
• The Biſhop of Canterburies firſt prayer on the Scaffold, 10 Janua. 1644. (D1v)
• The Biſhop of Canterburies laſt Prayer on the Scaffold" (D2v) and 
• "The Speech of the Lord Louthen, Chancellour of Scotland, to the King at Newcastle, July 1 6 4 6 (D3r)

 The bookseller is Thomas Jenner, who presumably printed the work. I'll have to check Jones to see if he's identified the sculptor of these engravings, but it may be someone from Jenner's circle of other engravers. From the ODB:

Among the engravers whose work Jenner published were Renold Elstrack, John Goddard, Wenceslaus Hollar, William Marshall, Simon De Passe, and his brother Willem (to whom Jenner may have been related by marriage). Jenner's professional association with Willem De Passe was happily productive, and three of his early publications of De Passe's engravings are among his best:Frederick of Bohemia and his Family (1621), James I and Charles as Prince of Wales (1621), and a striking dynastic portrait, The Family of James I (1622). Other productions of Jenner's earlier career which, in a different way, are also remarkable are the collections of prints depicting allegorical figures such as The Seven Deadly Sins (c.1630), The Five Senses (c.1630), and, later, The Four Elements (c.1640) (engraved, respectively, by Goddard, Barra, and Marshall).

"A Sight of the Trans-actions" was printed in 1646, after all of these series. The latest of these engravers to have worked with Jenner is William Marshall, who also engraved Heraclitus' Dream and many other objects of interest. Marshall engraved Vicars' "Charles prince of Great Britaine, borne, baptiz'd, and buried" which was sold by Jenner.


The engravings themselves appear to be a standard size:

• 128 mm high and 97 mm wide (A1v)
• 127 mm high and 98 mm wide (A4r)
• 127 mm high and 96 mm wide (B1r)
• 128 mm high and 98 mm wide (B2r)
• 127 mm high and 100 mm wide (B3r)
• 126 mm high and 96 mm wide (B4r)
• 127 mm high and 100 mm wide (C1r)
• 128 mm high and 98 mm wide (C2r)
• 125 mm high and 96 mm wide (C3r)
• 126 mm high by 96 mm wide (C4r)
• 129 mm high and 99 mm wide (D1r)
• 130 mm high and 100 mm wide (D2r)

The plates themselves are printed well in this copy, with no signs of mis-impression. Moreover, it seems that the engravings were placed not out of any necessity of printing (because C1r and C2r are on opposite sides of the same quarto sheet). Instead, each illustration appears in the opening most relevant to it. For example, the illustration with depicting "The arch-Prelate of St Andrewes in Scotland | reading the new Service-booke in his pontificalibus | aſsaulted by men & women, with Cricketts ſtooles | Stickes and Stones" followed below by "The riſing of Prentiſes and Sea-men on South-|-wark ſide to aſsault the Arch-biſhop of Canter-|-burys Houſe at Lambeth" appears opposite the page that narrates the same (A3v).

There are some interesting moments of meta-representation in these illustrations. Marshall illustrated a broadside against "Catholick Gamesters", and the illustration on C4r shows a fire of game-books below a large frame depicting the breaking of the Cheapside cross. Also, Marshall seems to have expunged a face from even the copperplate engraving of a devotional painting. The illustration on D1r has three visible painting subjects. One in the fire depicts the pope in profile, carrying a shepherd's hook. The two others headed towards the fire depict a man kneeling at the foot of the crucifixion, and a woman in profile. Notably, the woman in profile has her face visibly erased. At first, I thought this was damage to the page itself. I checked the paper, and it's not punched through or even scratched on the surface. This erasure was made on the ink itself--either before or after the impression of the copperplate.