Law, Or a Discourse Thereof, In Foure Bookes, Written in French by...
First English-Language Edition of a Distinguished Predecessor to Blackstone's Commentaries Finch, Sir Henry [1558-1625]. Law, Or, A Discourse Thereof, In Foure Bookes. Written in French by Sir Henrie Finch Knight, His Maiesties Serieant at Law. And Done Into English by the Same Author. London: Printed for the Societie of Stationers, 1627. [viii], 496, 499-506, [16] pp. First leaf, a blank, renewed with contemporary paper. Pagination irregular. Text complete. Octavo (5-1/2" x 3-3/4"). Contemporary sheep, expertly restored by Philip Dusel, blind rules to boards, raised bands to spine, front endleaf renewed with old paper. A few nicks and scuffs to boards, some edgewear, light gatoring and tiny fragment of shelf label to spine, pastedowns loose. Light toning to text, occasional faint dampstaining to upper margins, tiny stab-holes to margins of a few leaves, light soiling and small early owner initials to front endleaf and title page. A very nice copy in a notably handsome period binding. $1,750. * First edition in English. Originally published in Law-French in 1613 as Nomotechnia: Un Description del Common Leyes D'Angleterre, "Finch's Law, till the publication of Blackstone's Commentaries, was regarded as the best elementary book to be placed in the hands of the law students. It is one of the few attempts that have been made to reduce the common law into system...[Finch's] definitions were exact, his style concise and nervous, and his illustrations clear and authentic. Most of the valuable parts of Finch are incorporated in Blackstone's Commentaries" (Sweet & Maxwell). The first English-language edition was published in 1627. Holdsworth says the English version was the "pioneer book on the institutes of English law" and a model for several writers. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:238 (10). Holdsworth, A History of English Law V:399-400. English Short-Title Catalogue S122048.
Price: $1,750.00
Book number 68988