First and only edition of an account of the taking of the Mayflower, a royalist privateer vessel belonging to Captain Polhill, Admiral of Falmouth, by the parliamentarian Captain William Thomas of the 8th Whelp. This happened during the English Civil War, a conflict over the manner of England's government, in which the supporters of King Charles I stood against the supporters of Oliver Cromwell and the Long Parliament.
Thomas was ordered to escort some trading vessels to Morlaix in Brittany. When he learned that the prize ship Mayflower, recently taken from Yarmouth, was lying at that harbour, he disguised his vessel as a merchant ship to lure Polhill out. Polhill was fooled, and made haste to capture the reported merchantman "laden with wool and iron". Thomas chased the Mayflower and forced it to run aground. Eventually the captain escaped and remaining crew surrendered and came over to Thomas's side.
Robert Riviere (1808-1882) established his famous bindery in Bath and moved it to London in 1840, gaining a reputation as one of England's best binders for the quality of his materials and workmanship. He signed his bindings "Bound by Riviere" from 1860 to 1880.
With the pencilled initials "W.H. C-M." and the date "12 Oct. 1882", that is Wakefield Christie-Miller (1835-1898), who later inherited the Britwell Library. Some minor spots and smudges along the extremities, but otherwise in very good condition. Binding fine. ESTC R16776; M.J. Lea-OMahoney, The navy in the English Civil War (2011), pp. 85-87; Thomason, p. 264.