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London, 1642. 1st ed in English. First English-Language Edition of A Profitable Booke Perkins, John [d. 1545]. A Profitable Booke of Mr. Iohn Perkins, Sometimes Fellow of the Inner Temple. Treating of the Lawes of England. And Now Translated Out of French into English for the Benefit of Young Students, And Others. London: Printed by R.B. for M. Wallbanke, 1642. [xxxii], 1-272; 271-388 pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 4"). Later paneled calf, rebacked, gilt rules to board edges, gilt title and date and blind fillets and ornaments to spine, gilt tooling to board edges, "Perkins" in early hand to fore-edges of text block, endpapers renewed. Light rubbing and a few minor stains to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities with wear to head of spine and corners, joints just starting at ends, front hinge cracked, recent owner signature (B. Diamond) to front free endpaper. Moderate toning to text, foot of text block affected by trimming with some loss to text of index, faint dampstaining to a few leaves at beginning of text block, edgewear to preliminaries and final leaves, brief early annotations to a few passages, soiling and two early annotations (one illegible, the other reading "legibus pare") to title page in tiny hand, headline trimmed with loss to "A," corners worn away with minor loss to "e' in "Booke." $450. * First edition with main text in English. A popular work during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries that was held in high regard by Coke, Perkins' Profitable Booke was first published in 1528 with a Latin title and went through numerous editions in both Law French and English. The English title was adopted beginning in 1555, but the main text remained in Law French, often with a Latin preface, until 1642, when liberalizing trends in legal publishing and the work's growing popularity made an English edition desirable. Devoted mostly to the land law as developed in the Year Books, it is divided into the following topics: grants, deeds, feoffments, exchanges, dower, curtesy, wills, devises, surrenders, reservations, and conditions. It was one of the first practical guidebooks for students and practitioners of the law and heralded an expansion in the scope of legal literature in England (Harvey). The Latin phrase legibus pare (obey the laws) has an interesting history. It was an example sentence taught to students lea.
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