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WELLS**, JOHN: : THE HOUSE of LORDS: From Saxon Wargods To a Modern Senate - AN ANECDOTAL HISTORY

LONDON.HODDER & STOUGHTON,1997.

ISBN 0340649283.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 10 - 1 descending.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip (£20.00) to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour pictorial artwork (a cartoon by 'APE' from Vanity Fair) illustrated dw/dj panels,with gilt+white lettering to front panel,brown lettering to rear panel of dw/dj; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Majority of the light creasing is to top edges of dw/dj; a small indentation/ scoring mark to rear panel of dw/dj but no penetration and without affecting the bds beneath.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain black cloth bds (boards) with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate b/w floor plan of Palace of Westminster illustrated eps.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn, ix-xxipp+1-298pp [paginated] includes illustrations list,an intro,20 chapters and a postscript,16pp contemporary, historical b/w reproduction illustrations and contemporary,historical b/w political cartoons,all in 2 blocks of 8pp apiece, between pp74/5 and pp202/03 respectively,a select bibliography and an index,plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages, dedication,and contents list/table with acknowledgements to its recto. For centuries,the House of Lords has provoked blind adoration,blind rage and often public merriment.Opening with a knockabout eyewitness account of Mrs Thatcher's entry into the Other Place she had so long despised,acclaimed writer, actor and man of the theatre John Wells now tells the full history of this unique hereditary institution. Since the Roman occupation,some kind of Senate has always existed in Britain,but it was in the 14thC that a Chamber of Peers,distinct and separate from the House of Commons,emerged.While the Commons represented the Communes (the people),the Lords represented no one but themselves. Even the Bishops,who were in a sense the first democratically elected members of Parliament being chosen by their own clergy,did not represent either the Church or their own diocese but were simply Wise Men with the right to advise the Head of State. Explaining the historical origins of their bizarre rituals,John Wells throws vivid light on the present-day institution and its possible future.In a series of dramatic flashbacks including the murder of Thomas Beckett,Cromwell's abolition of the Lords and the Great Reform Bill,Wells demonstartes the House's record on Europe,its political value as a sheet-anchor in stormy weather and its attitude to order,just or unjust.By way of a description of the old Palace of Westminster before the fire of 1834 and a guide to the present building,the author brings us to the modern political arena with Wedgwood Benn's famous renunciation of his father's peerage,gives a Press Gallery view of the Great Maastricht Debate,talks to the Black Rod,penetrates the inner sanctum of the Lord Great Chamberlain's Chamber,and meets the guardian of the Kremlin,a place of mystery under the Victoria Tower. Both entertaining and instructive,'THE HOUSE of LORDS' is a fascinating and delightful work of history. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct and possibly,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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