The Order of the Coif

First Edition with Seven Plates One Folding and One in Color Pulling, Alexander. The Order of the Coif. London: William Clowes and Sons, Limited, 1884. xxvi, 288 pp. Seven plates, one folding; color frontispiece. Royal Octavo (10" x 7"). Publisher's gilt-stamped cloth, rebacked with gilt titles to front board and spine, top edge gilt, endpapers renewed. Ex-Birmingham Law Society library with their prominent gilt stamps to the front board and their insignia to rear. Small circular library stamps to title page and several pages inside. Moderate rubbing to boards, somewhat heavier rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and worn. A good copy. $150. * First edition. This work explores the ancient origins and development of Serjeants-at-Law - the members of the Order of the Coif, along with their distinctive costume, the robe and the white hoods called coifs. It traces the use of the coif from its medieval beginnings to its later forms. Pulling examines the significance of the Coif within the context of legal education and the legal profession itself. It also investigates the symbolism and meaning behind the Coif and explores the traditions and rituals associated with it and the Order. The American Order of the Coif, founded in 1912, is an honorary society recognizing legal scholarship, inspired by the English Order but with no direct legal connection. With a list of men admitted to the order. Pulling was a member of the order.…