Broadside announcing the execution of King Louis XVI of France, 1792, titled: 'Trial, Defence, Sentence, and MASSACRE of the KING of France, […] as communicated by a Member of the late National Assembly to a Member of the British Parliament.'

A rare and unusual item, distributed as news of the execution broke, no other copy of which has been traced, either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. Printed on one side of a 59 x 48.5 cm piece of watermarked laid paper. In four columns of small print, surrounded by a thick-thin ruled border. Engraving (13.5 x 14.5 cm) of the moment of execution by guillotine at head of the central two columns. Aged and worn, with small drops of ink spattering, but with the text entirely legible and the engraving practically unmarked. Folded four times. Personalised by infantile scratching in the same ink to the margin at the foot of the page; and ink staining and further childish calligraphic exercises (e.g. 'Croydon | Bath | Mr Worcester | Taylor' and 'Mess Lyon & Gray') on the blank reverse. The text begins with a section headed 'French National Convention, | PARIS, DECEMBER 12, 1792.' There follows a long section headed 'Sentence on LOUIS XVI.' The final section, taking up the whole of the fourth column, is 'The Will of Louis the Sixteenth, | Late KING of FRANCE, written by himself.'