Magna Carta, Cum Aliis Antiquis Statutis [with] Secunda Pars, 1540 by Magna Carta - 1540

1540. [London: Thomas Berthelet], 1540.. [London: Thomas Berthelet], 1540. Rare Early Printing of Magna Carta and the Secunda Pars [Magna Carta]. Magna Carta Cum Aliis Antiquis Statutis, Quorum Catalogum, In Fine Operis Reperies. [London: Thomas Berthelet], 1540 (dated 1541 on colophon). [i], 2-148, [4]; [iv], 80 ff. Two parts, each with title page, table and individual pagination. Second part, dated 1540 (on title page and colophon), titled Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum. Octavo 5-1/4" x 3-1/2"). Contemporary speckled calf, carefully rebacked in period style, blind rules to boards, raised bands and blind fillets to spine, endpapers renewed with carefully matched antique paper. A few minor nicks and scratches to boards, corners bumped, upper margin of title page replaced with no loss to text. Light toning to interior, occasional faint dampstaining to foot of text block, occasional annotations in early chancery hand to margins (some affected slightly by trimming), later owner signature (Francis Anderson) to title pages, two other brief annotations in chancery hand to title page of Magna Carta. A handsome copy housed in a quarter-morocco over cloth clamshell box, gilt title and raised bands to spine. $8,500. * The text of Magna Carta is a close reprinting of the 1527 edition by Richard Pynson with additional material. (Pynson printed the first edition around 1508.) It also includes the Charta de Foresta and statutes passed before the reign of Edward III. Among the most notorious statutes are those of Edward I concerning Jews, which condemned them for irreverence and prevented them from practicing usury or acquiring land from Christians through pledges. Other "Antique Statutes" relate to women, wills, forcible entry, "Fraudulent Deedes" and other topics. Annotations are found throughout both parts. Most of them are case references or one of two-word glosses, but some are interpretive notes ranging from one to a few sentences. "Thomas Jefferson (who must have had Magna Carta in mind as he drafted the Declaration of Independence) and Alexander Hamilton both cited Magna Carta in support of the United States Constitution. Indeed, under the communal pen-name 'Publius,' Hamilton specifically referred to Magna Carta in number 84 of The Federalist Papers" (Sotheby's New York, The Magna Carta, 18 December 2007, p. 85). OCLC locates 3 copies of this imp.