English Liberties: Or, The Free-born Subject's Inheritance...
First Edition of a Classic Guide to English Law and Government that Inspired the American Founding Fathers [Care, Henry (1646-1688)]. English Liberties: Or, The Free-Born Subject's Inheritance, Containing I. Magna Charta, The Petition of Right, The Habeas Corpus Act; And Divers Other Most Useful Statutes: With Large Comments Upon Each of Them. II. The Proceedings in Appeals of Murther; The Work and Power of Parliaments; The Qualifications Necessary for Such as Should be Chosen to that Great Trust. Plain Directions for All Persons Concerned in Ecclesiastical Courts; And How to Prevent or Take Off the Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo. As Also the Oath and Duty of Grand and Petty Juries. III. All the Laws Against Conventicles and Protestant Dissenters with Notes, And Directions both to Constables and Others Concern'd, Thereupon; And an Abstract of All the Laws Against Papists. London: Printed by G. Larkin, For John How, At the Seven-Stars at the South-West Corner of the Royal Exchange in Cornhil, [1682]. [xii], 228 pp. Lacking final four leaves of advertisements. 12mo. (5-3/4" x 3-1/4"). Later three-quarter calf over marbled boards, raised bands and lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed. Light rubbing to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and somewhat worn, hinges cracked, front endleaves and title page partially detached but secure, partial crack to text block between H1 and H2 (pp.146-147). Light browning to interior, faint dampstaining in places, fore-edge of title page affected by trimming and a two small chips that resulted in a small loss to text. $2,500. * First edition, one of two imprints from that year (1682 publication date conjectured by Wing). This classic layman's guide reviews, from a Whig perspective, the principles of English law and government. It emphasizes the role of Magna Carta, Parliament and juries in the preservation of civil rights and prevention of tyranny. First published in America in 1721, it had a profound influence on several colonial readers, including the founding fathers. It was the primary source for William Penn's Excellent Priviledge of Liberty and Property (1687), a work that inspired support for the revolution. George Mason used it when drafting Virginia's Declaration of Rights (1776). Jefferson, who owned this edition and another copy, printed i.
Price: $2,500.00
Book number 78501