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Item #21179 Farther Reasons Humbly Offer'd for Passing theFfish Bill [caption title]. FISHING.

Farther Reasons Humbly Offer'd for Passing theFfish Bill [caption title]

London: 1715. Broadsheet. [1]p. plus printed docket title on verso. Disbound. Small folio. Early folds and early stab holes in left margin. Mild foxing.

A rare British leaflet from the Fishmonger-Smackman Controversy of 1715. That year, a bill was in motion before Parliament that would regulate various aspects of the fishing industry, including fish size, net use and mesh size, and the importation of lobster. The latter issue ignited a significant controversy between and among British fish merchants and lobstermen, with the most vocal merchants supporting a clause that would remove a ban on the sale of lobster caught by foreigners. In the present document, the pro-free-trade-lobster fishmonger lobby responds to a recent leaflet by fellow fish merchants allied with the smackmen. An early example of commercial lobbying literature, which first began proliferating in the lobby of the House of Commons at the time of the accession of King George I and the British general election of 1715. ESTC records five copies, at the University of London, Oxford, the California State Library, Harvard, and Yale.

Hanson 2122.

Item #21179

Price: $475.00

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