Orders Devised by the Especiall Commandement of the Queenes Maiestie..
A Scarce Set of Orders Regulating Grain Allotment by Justices of the Peace Elizabeth I [1533-1603], Queen of England and Ireland. Orders Devised by the Especiall Commandement of the Queenes Maiestie, For the Reliefe and Stay of the Present Dearth of Graine Within the Realme: Sent from the Court at Greenewich Abroad into the Realme, The Second Day of Ianuarie, 1586. In the 29. Yeere of Her Maiesties Reigue, By Her Maiesties Priuie Counsell. [ii], 20, [2] pp. London: Imprinted by Christopher Barker, 1586 [i.e. 1587]. Quarto (6-3/4" x 4-3/4"). Later polished calf signed binding by Riviere & Son, gilt frames and small corner decorations to boards, gilt spine with raised bands and lettering pieces, gilt tooling to board edges, edges of text block gilt, gilt inside dentelles. Light bowing to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, chip to head of spine, front board and rear joint just starting, faint offsetting and recent pencil notations to endpapers. Moderate toning to interior, trimming to leaf B1 (pp. 7-8) just touching side notes without loss to legibility. A handsome copy. $2,000. * Only edition. Following a 1586 famine, Elizabeth's privy council issued orders to justices of the peace dictating how they were to respond to food scarcity in their communities. The sweeping, highly detailed orders listed the quantities of grain permitted each family and controlled prices for any excess put on the market. Though many other monarchs had regulated grain markets after crop failures, the practice expanded significantly under Elizabeth. Along with other social reforms, this provided the foundation for her overhaul of the poor laws in 1601. OCLC locates 6 copies of this scarce title, 5 in North America (Yale, Williams College, University of Minnesota Law School, Harvard Law School, Huntington Library); the ESTC adds 1 North American copy (Folger Shakespeare). Beale, Bibliography of Early English Law Books T304a. English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC) S100696.
Price: $2,000.00
Book number 74144