The Paper Chase

An adventure story of politics, ideas, espionage and printing from the age of Queen Anne.

The Paper Chase follows the apprenticeship, career and manhunt of David Edwards, a shady publisher who in 1705 printed a seditious pamphlet (The Memorial of the Church of England) that threatened to topple the government and was part of a much larger revolutionary campaign.

A mysterious “woman in a vizard mask” first delivered the manuscript to Edwards’ workshop in Nevil’s Alley and secrecy cloaked all of her dealings. When the anonymous pamphlet is published, it is the talk of Nando’s on Fleet Street and all of the coffeehouses where society gathered to discuss the ideas of the age. And when Edwards is suddenly nowhere to be found, his wife is imprisoned and the book is burnt at the stake in his place…

Secretary of State Robert Harley leads the investigation into the identity of the pamphlet’s author and an energetic chase ensues through the halls of power and the back alleys of London. Edwards switches allegiances and turns detective but the trail through this “time of scribbling” seems impossible to untangle and lives and livelihoods are under threat.

Full of original research, Joseph Hone shows us a nation in crisis through the fascinating story of a single incendiary document.