Littleton's Tenures, In French and English, With an Alphabetical...
Interleaved Copy of the First Law-French and English Edition of Littleton with an Interesting Association Littleton, Sir Thomas [d. 1481]. Littleton's Tenures, In French and English. With an Alphabetical Table of the Principal Matters Therein Contained. London: Printed by John Streater, James Flesher and Henry Twyford, Assigns of Richard Atkins, And Edward Atkins, 1671. [xxii], 360, 371-436 (i.e. 426), [2] pp. Pagination irregular, text complete. Main text in parallel columns. Interleaved. 12mo. (5" x 3"; 14 x 7.6 cm). Contemporary calf with later sheep rebacking, blind rules to boards, gilt tooling to board edges, raised bands and lettering piece to spine, marbled edges, hinges reinforced with cloth tape. Light rubbing to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and lightly worn, front board partially detached, spine abraded with chipping at ends, owner signature of William Brockman to front pastedown. Light toning to interior, negligible foxing a places, annotations in Brockman's hand to four interleaves, shelf mark (?) in same hand to head of title page. A good copy with an interesting association. $1,500. * First edition with parallel texts in English and Law French. Written during the reign of Edward IV [1442-1483] and first published around 1481, Littleton's Tenures is probably the most revered treatise in the history of the common law. Much admired for its learning and style, it is concerned with tenures and other issues relating to real property. This venerable work, which Coke called "the ornament of the Common Law, and the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any humane science," is considered a landmark because it renounced the principles of Roman law (and Latin) in favor of guidelines and doctrines drawn from the Year Books and, when necessary, hypothetical cases. Brockman [1652-c.1742] was a Whig politician from a distinguished Kent landholding family. (His grandfather, Sir William Brockman, gained local fame during the Civil War as a staunch Royalist who fought for Charles I.) He attended the Middle Temple and went on to become an active and influential Member of Parliament, where he represented the Kent town of Hythe, and a Justice of the Peace and Lord Lieutenant for Kent. He was often involved in property disputes as Lord Lieutenant, so a copy.
Price: $1,500.00
Book number 84200