The Pretended Perspective-Glass; Or Some Reasons of Many More Which...
"Innovations are More than a Little Dangerous" [Philipps, Fabian (1601-1690)]. The Pretended Perspective-Glass; Or Some Reasons of Many More Which Might be Offered, Against the Pretended Registring Reformation. London: [s.n.], Printed in the year 1669. [ii], 15, [1] pp. Lacking final blank leaf. Quarto (7-1/4" x 5-1/2"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound in recent quarter calf over marbled boards, blind fillets to calf edges, blind fillets and gilt-edged lettering piece to spine. Moderate toning to interior, light foxing and soiling to a few leaves, publication date corrected to 1671 in ink in an early hand. $650. * First edition. Philipps, a member of an old gentry family educated at inns of chancery, Oxford and Middle Temple, was a notable and prolific legal antiquarian and Royalist. Here, he wades into the debate over the establishment of a general register for titles and deeds. Though the idea was first proposed under Henry VIII, no such register would be created until the passage of the Land Registry Act in 1862, which established a registry of titles (but not deeds). The system created by the act was voluntary and largely ineffective; successive attempts at reform failed until the Land Registration Act of 1925. Philipps warns against the registry on the grounds that it would create public mistrust and cause economic failures by creating opportunities for fraud. Signature C is unsigned in our copy. Two issues of a second edition appeared in 1671, one with signature C signed and one without. English Short-Title Catalogue R9264.
Price: $650.00
Book number 74340