Rushworth and Nalson

Abstract

John Rushworth’s Historical Collections appeared in successive folio volumes over a period of more than forty years. Bibliographical details are tedious, but as certain problems about the publication and content of the Historical Collections have to be examined, the following outline may be given. The First Part, without volume number or part number, appeared under the date 1659. Volumes two and three (1680) constituted “The Second Part,” volumes four and five (1692) constituted “The Third Part,” and volumes six and seven (1701) constituted “The Fourth and Last Part.” The work ends with the death of the King in 1649, though Rushworth had once intended to carry it at least as far as the breaking of the Long Parliament in 1653.¹ Rushworth also issued The Tryal of Thomas Earl of Strafford (1680), based on shorthand notes he took during this famous trial; though not correctly belonging to the Historical Collections it is sometimes catalogued by librarians as a volume of them.