The Touchstone of Wills, Testaments, And Administrations, Being a..

1668. London: W. Leak, A. Roper, [et al.], 1674. London: W. Leak, A. Roper, [et al.], 1674. The First English Treatise on Wills for Laymen Meriton, George [1634-1711]. The Touchstone of Wills, Testaments, And Administrations. Being a Compendium of Cases and Resolutions Touching the Same. Carefully Collected Out of the Ecclesiastical, Civil and Canon Laws. As also Out of the Customs, Common Laws, And Statutes of this Kingdom. London: Printed for W. Leak, A. Roper, [et al.], 1674. [viii], 257, [11] pp. 12mo. (5-1/2" x 3"). Contemporary sheep, blind rules to boards, blind fillets to spine, blind tooling to board edges. Rubbing to boards and extremities, a few scuffs, nicks and scratches to boards, corners bumped and somewhat worn, rear joint starting at head, armorial bookplate (of Thomas Flitcroft) to inside of front board, hinges cracked, offsetting and edgewear to endleaves and final leaf of text. Moderate toning to interior, somewhat heavier in places, early ownership signature (of Michael Flitcroft) to foot of title page. $850. * Third and final edition. Meriton was a lawyer and a prodigious writer on a wide range of legal and non-legal topics. Born in the North Riding of Yorkshire, he is also remembered for his dialect poem The Praise of Yorkshire Ale (1683). A well-regarded work first published in 1665, with a second edition in 1671, the Touchstone was the first English treatise on wills written for laymen. English Short-Title Catalogue R703.