De Republica Anglorum, The Manor of Government or Policie of the...
Early Edition of "The Most Important Description of the Constitution and Government Of England Written During the Tudor Age" Smith, Sir Thomas [1513-1577]. De Republica Anglorum. The Maner of Governement or Policie of the Realme of England, Compiled by the Honorable Sir Thomas Smyth Knight, Doctor of Both the Lawes, And One of the Principal Secretaries Unto the Two Most Worthy Princes, King Edward the Sixt, And Queene Elizabeth. Seene and Allowed. London: Printed by Henrie Midleton for Gregorie Seton, 1583. [viii], 119, [1] pp. Quarto (6-3/4" x 5-1/4"). Twentieth-century signed binding by Wood of London, three-quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt rules to boards, raised bands, gilt fillets and gilt title to spine, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Light rubbing to extremities, armorial bookplate of Albert Ehrman to front pastedown, his owner stamp, AE in a lozenge-shaped frame and, in manuscript next to it, "1667" to rear endleaf. Moderate toning to interior, edges trimmed, but with no loss to text, light soiling to title page. A handsome copy with an interesting association. $3,500. * Second edition. Written between 1562 and 1565 and first published in 1583, this essay "is the most important description of the constitution and government of England written in the Tudor age" (DNB). It is a work highly regarded by Maitland, who planned his own edition and wrote in the preface to the 1906 reprint that it "will be quoted and transcribed so long as men take any interest in the history of the English constitution." It went through eleven editions in English between 1583 and 1691. Four Latin editions, titled De Republica et Administratione Anglorum, appeared between 1610 and 1641. Abridged editions in Dutch and German were published in 1673 and 1688. Smith, an English scholar and diplomat, was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge University. Albert Ehrman [1890-1969] was an important collector of books and manuscripts. His Broxbourne Library, named after his home, reflected his interests in early European printing and book production. After his death his library was donated to the Cambridge University Library and Oxford's Bodleian Library by his son, John Ehrman. Maitland cited in Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:89. Dictionary of National Biography XVII.
Price: $3,500.00
Book number 74427