La Graunde Abridgement, Collecte & Escrie per le Iudge.. by Brooke, Sir Robert; Brook, Sir Robert - 1576

1576. London, 1576. 2 pts in 1. London, 1576. 2 pts in 1. "A Worthy and Painful Work" Brooke, Sir Robert [?-1558]. La Graunde Abridgement, Collecte & Escrie per le Iudge Tresreverend Syr Robert Brooke Chivalier, Nadgairs Chiefe Iustice del Common Banke. [And] La Secounde Part du Graunde Abridgment.... London: In Aedibus Richardi Tottell, 1576. Two parts in one. [ii], 351; [i], 328 ff. Collates complete. Small folio (9-1/4" x 6"). Contemporary calf with recent rebacking, blind panels with large corner fleurons to boards, raised bands and lettering piece to spine. Moderate rubbing to board edges, a few minor scratches and scuffs, corners bumped and somewhat worn, hinges starting. Titles printed within woodcut architectural borders, woodcut decorated initials. Moderate toning to text, faint dampstaining to foot of text block, minor loss to fore-edges of title pages due to trimming. Tiny early owner signatures to title page of first part, interiors otherwise clean. An attractive copy. $1,000. * Second edition. Sir Robert Brooke was renowned for his great learning as a scholar and his probity as a judge. Holdsworth notes that Brooke's Abridgement "is based on Fitzherbert's Abridgement, but it contains much new material. In particular it abridges fully the Year Books of Henry VII's and Henry VIII's reigns." Brooke abridged nearly 21,000 cases under 404 alphabetical headings. He proceeded with great care and accuracy, and is understood to have had access to the original records of the Year Books. Coke calls the Abridgement "a worthy and painful work and an excellent repertory or table for the Year Books of the Law." It was first issued in 1573. Coke cited in Marvin, Legal Bibliography 151. Holdsworth, History of English Law II:545. English Short-Title Catalogue S106717. Beale, A Bibliography of Early English Law Books R471, R472.