Magna Charta [Carta], Cum Statutis, Tum Antiquis, Tum Recentibus..

1576. contemporary female ownership: Jane Saunderson. contemporary female ownership: Jane Saunderson. Handsome Copy of the 1576 Tottel Edition of Magna Carta Owned by a Woman [Magna Carta]. Magna Charta, Cum Statutis, Tum Antiquis, Tum Recentibus, Maximopere, Animo Tenendis Nunc Demum ad Unum, Tipis Aedita, Per Richardum Tottell. Anno Domini 1576. [Imprinted at London in Fleetestrete Within Temple Barre at the Signe of the Hand and Starre, By Richard Tottell, The 8. Day of Marche, 1576]. [viii], 247 ff. Octavo (4-1/2" x 2-3/4"). Period-style calf, raised bands and gilt title and ornaments to spine, endpapers renewed. Some toning to text, margins trimmed close with loss of a few letters on outer margin of leaf A1 (fol. 1), minor dampstaining in a few places. Contemporary ownership signatures of Jane Saunderson to title page and rear endleaf, brief annotations in a tiny hand to a few pages. An appealing copy. $7,500. * Text in Latin, English and Law-French. With two tables of statutes, one alphabetical. An early and uncommon edition of the Magna Carta printed here with corrections and additions from earlier editions, up to the 14th year of the reign of Elizabeth I. It includes the Carta de Foresta of Henry III, the Statutes of Merton and Marlebridge and additional information useful to "studentes of the lawe" and "practisers of the same." A valuable window on English society in the sixteenth century, the statutes deal with women, wills, leases, forcible entry, "Fraudulent Deedes" and many other topics. In 1553 Tottel was granted an exclusive seven-year patent to print all "duly authorized books on the common law" (Dugdale). His patent was renewed several times over the following forty years. During that time he became one of the most important legal publishers of the sixteenth century. Dugdale, Origines Juridicales 59-60. Beale, A Bibliography of Early English Law Books S19. English Short-Title Catalogue S92154.