La Graunde Abridgement, Collecte & Escrie per le Iudge Tresreverend..

1576. London: Tottell, 1576. Two parts in one. Complete. London: Tottell, 1576. Two parts in one. Complete. "A Worthy and Painful Work" Brooke, Sir Robert [d.1558]. La Graunde Abridgement, Collecte & Escrie per le Iudge Tresreverend Syr Robert Brooke Chivalier, Nadgairs Chiefe Iustice del Common Banke. London: In Aedibus Richardi Tottell, 1576. [iv], 351 ff. [And] La Secounde Part du Graunde Abridgment....London: In Aedibus Richardi Tottell, 1576. [i], 328 ff. Small folio (9-1/4" x 6-1/2"). Recent period-style calf, blind rules to boards, raised bands, blind fillets, gilt title and gilt publication date to spine, hinges mended. A few minor nicks and scratches, corners lightly bumped, later stamp (reading "Earl of Ellenborough's Heirlooms," with a book number) to front pastedown. Title pages printed within woodcut architectural borders. Moderate toning to interior, (very) faint dampstaining to head of text block at gutter and final few leaves after Fol. 278 of the Secounde Part, contemporary annotations, underlining, markings and ink spots in a few places, some affected by trimming, light soiling and edgewear to preliminaries of La Graunde Abridgement and final leaves of the Secounde Part. $2,000. * Second edition. Sir Robert Brooke was renowned for his great learning and probity as a judge. First published in 1573, his Abridgement is based on Fitzherbert's Abridgement, but it contains much new material. In all, Brooke abridged nearly 21,000 cases and digested them alphabetically under 404 headings. It abridges fully the Year Books of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Brooke proceeded with great care and accuracy, and is believed 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." This edition is superior to earlier printings, in which abbreviations are frequently unintelligible. A fair number of important early American lawyers had copies of this title, and it remained a reference into the nineteenth century. The ESTC considers it a two-part work; Beale as two separate works. Coke cited in Marvin, Legal Bibliography 151-152. English Short-Title Catalogue S106717. Beale, Bibliography of Early English Law Books R471, R472.