A Collection of Select and Modern Entries of Declarations.

A Companion to the Reports of Sir Creswell Levinz Levinz, Sir Creswell. A Collection of Select and Modern Entries of Declarations, Pleadings, Issues, Verdicts, Judgments, &c. Referring to the Cases in Sir Creswell Levinz's Reports; The Judgment of the Court Being Added to Each President. With Notes and References to the Reports and Entries of the Law. London: Printed by the Assigns of R. and E. Atkins, for D. Browne [etc.], 1702. [iv], 1-223 [i.e. 215], [21] pp. Copperplate portrait frontispiece. Folio (12-1/4" x 8"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets along joints, raised bands, lettering piece and small early paper shelf labels to spine, gilt tooling to board edges. Light rubbing and a few shallow scuffs to boards, some rubbing to extremities, minor tear to head of spine, corners bumped and moderately worn, hinges cracked, shelfmark and armorial bookplate of the Earls of Macclesfield to front pastedown, early manuscript shelfmark to rear pastedown, small embossed Macclesfield crest to preliminaries, armorial bookplate of Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield to verso of title page. Light toning to interior, faint minor stains and underlining in a few places, offsetting to margins of endleaves. $250. * Only edition. The reports of Sir Creswell Levinz cover the years 1660 to 1697 (12 Car. II-9 Wm. III). Contemporary opinions of their quality vary, but they were widely cited and considered authorities by the early 1700s, both in Great Britain and the American colonies. A Collection is an abridged and digested version with citations to the three-volume Les Reports de Sr. Creswell Levinz (London, 1702). Our copy of this title belonged to the Earls of Macclesfield. Housed in Shirburn Castle, near Watlington, Oxfordshire, it was one of the finest private libraries in Great Britain. Thomas Parker [1666-1732], the first Earl of Macclesfield, was a hugely successful lawyer and Whig MP. He became Lord Chief Justice of England in 1710 and, in 1718, Lord Chancellor. Unfortunately, his meteoric rise was countered by an equally rapid fall in 1725 when he was impeached and found guilty of financial irregularities as Lord Chancellor. English Short-Title Catalogue T96774.…