The Lawes [Laws] Resolutions of Womens Rights... London, 1632. 1st ed - 1632

1632. One of 4 early books on the English Law of Women. One of 4 early books on the English Law of Women. The Earliest Work in English About Laws Relating to Women E[dgar], T[homas] (fl. 1615-1649), Attributed]. The Lawes Resolutions of Womens Rights: Or, The Lawes Provision for Woemen. A Methodicall Collection of Such Statutes and Customes, With the Cases, Opinions, Arguments and Points of Learning in the Law, As Doe Properly Concerne Women. Together with a Compendious Table, Whereby the Chiefe Matters in This Booke Contained, May Be the More Readily Found. London: Printed for the Assignes of John More Esq., 1632. [xiv], 404 pp. First leaf in collation, a blank, lacking. Quarto (7-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Contemporary speckled calf, rebacked in period style, gilt fillets and lettering piece to spine, gilt tooling to board edges, corners mended, endpapers renewed, speckled edges. Light rubbing to boards, tiny nick to lettering piece. Light toning to text, light foxing to a few leaves. Housed in a custom quarter morocco over cloth clamshell box with gilt-edged raised bands and gilt title to spine. A handsome copy. $25,000. * First edition. The earliest work in English devoted to laws relating exclusively to women, this incomparable digest from the time of the Civil War is also known as The Womens Lawyer. It is notable, in part, as the first book in English with the phrase "women's rights." A wide-ranging work, it treats such diverse topics as age of consent, dower, hermaphrodites, polygamy, wooing, partition, chattels, divorce, descent, seisin, treason, felonies and rape. Some sources, such as the English Short-Title Catalogue, believe this work was written in 1603 by Sir John Doddridge [1555-1628], an important legal figure during the reign of James I. Its preface is signed T.E., who is believed to be Thomas Edgar. Jefferson owned a copy of this book, which suggests a few copies could be found in early American libraries. Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson 1999. English Short-Title Catalogue S100217.