1639 SCOTTISH NATIONAL COVENANT. Rare 1848 Hand-colored and Illuminated Facsimile

A superb and visually attractive piece of history and one of the most important pieces of print ephemera available for a collector of material related to the Scottish Covenantered Confessors and Martyrs. 

At the encroachment of the Roman Catholic counter-reformation into Scotland under James VI, post-reformation Presbyterian divines and leaders of Scotland gathered together in 1638 to affirm their loyalty to the King, but to also affirm the primary nature of their national faithfulness to God rather than a King. They then formed an Army. The years following, known as "The Killing Times" saw ministers of the Gospel beheaded, hung, women and children killed, etc., as the Crown attempted to reassert rule over the Church. 

An article in The National Review recently rightly discerns the influence of this document on The Declaration of Independence in terms of precedent, the influence on its composition through the number of Scottish Presbyterian divines involved in its writing, etc., 

A Facsimile of the National Covenant of 1638. Edinburgh. Davidson. c.1848

Measures 31 x 38 inches at its largest dimension. 

This engraved facsimile is from the original from the Advocates Library and is beautifully accented with red and yellow hand-coloring with gold illuminations. It has been mounted on fabric and has some minor losses and repairs. 

This is the only example we have ever seen offered on the market or handled; two institutional examples located. Even a later handwritten copy [of which there were a number circulated in the 17th century] will cost $50,000.00 or more with only one having come to the market in the last 20 years or so.