1832 two-volume set of Sir Edward Coke’s Commentary upon Littleton. Presenting a working copy of the highly sought-after nineteenth edition featuring a contemporary 1859 newspaper clipping of the infamous Thellusson Will Case and the stamp of the Williams’s Circulating Library in Cheltenham
DETAILS
Title
COKE UPON LITTLETON (1832)-WITH INFAMOUS 1859 THELLUSSON PROVENANCE: The First Part of the Institute of the Laws of England or a Commentary upon LITTLETON: not the Name of the Author only, but of the Law itself with Additions of Notes, References, and Proper Tables. By Francis Hargrave and Charles Butler including also the Notes of Lord Chief Justice Hale and Lord Chancellor Nottingham and an Analysis of Littleton, written by an unknown Hand in 1658-9.
Author
Edward COKE
Published
London: 1832
J. & W. T. Clarke; Saunders & Benning
Edition
19th Edition. The final version corrected by Charles Butler.
Format
Hardcover | Leather
Condition
Book: Poor | DJ: No DJ
Signed
Not signed by author
Association copy
Provenance
From the George Arthur Williams Circulating Library of Cheltenham. Stamp to front paste down. Ownership annotation of 'Chas Porter 3rd Dec 1835' to title page.
Additional Items
Newspaper article pasted to front paste down of volume I titled 'The Last of the Thellusson Will Case' and marked in ink as June 1859. The Thellusson will case (Thellusson v. Woodford) was one of the most infamous and protracted legal battles in British history. Peter Thellusson died in 1797, leaving his immense fortune to accumulate untouched for generations until all his immediate descendants died, depriving his living family of their inheritance. The public and legal outrage was so immense that Parliament passed the Accumulations Act 1800 (permanently known as the 'Thellusson Act') to make such greedy wills illegal in the future. The litigation dragged on for over 60 years, completely devouring the estate in legal fees, and famously served as Charles Dickens's direct inspiration for Jarndyce v. Jarndyce in his masterpiece Bleak House.
DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Description
Hardcover | Leather. Complete in two volumes, bound in full calf ruled five ridged spines with red leather title plates. Language: English. Size: 24.5 cm by 15 cm. Pages: Unpaginated.
Book Condition
Poor
Wear to corners, edges and spine ends. Loss of leather to both front spine edges. Old book worm trail to one front board. Old worm hole to a few rear pages. Tightly bound with intact endpapers and strong hinges. Spotting to all fly pages and a few opening pages.
Dust Jacket Condition
No DJ
NOTES
Author
Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634) was the preeminent jurist, legal scholar, and parliamentarian of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. As Chief Justice, his fierce defense of the common law against the absolute royal prerogative of the Stuart monarchs laid the foundational groundwork for the modern independent judiciary, constitutional rights, and the rule of law across the English-speaking world. The First Institute of the Laws of England, universally known as Coke upon Littleton, stands as a commentary on Sir Thomas Littleton's 15th-century treatise on feudal land tenures. His text served as the point of change from medieval feudalism to modern property law, creating a authoritative legal analysis that shaped constitutional law.
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