WEST, William
The first part of Simboleography
London, Thomas Wright, 1603£2,400.00
4to, [8] A-2Q8, 2R6. Roman and Black letter, some Italic. Mainly English text, some Latin. Contemporary mss. on eps, by multiple hands, recording biographical dates and details of contemporary users such as admission to the Inns of Court, autograph of Martin Bishop 1626 Dedication to Edmund Anderson, alphabetical table of contents. Occasional woodcut floriated or historiated initials and ornaments. A bit age yellowed, t-p slightly dusty, small repair to one blank corner, occasional marginal thumbing. Small rust hole to D8, minorly affecting a couple of letters on verso. A good copy in contemporary calf, scratched, upper joint cracked but sound, edges worn, later red morocco label.
Revised and expanded edition of this important and highly esteemed legal treatise on forms of fines which was used as a standard text in English legal practice. In encyclopaedic style, it contains explanations of legal terms followed by pro-forma precedents in both English and Latin, applicable to a range of agreements, procedures, and non-litigious situations. This made it a valuable tool for any aspiring or practising lawyer, providing specific wordings for them to copy into their own drafts. It was dedicated to Sir Edmund Anderson (1530-1605), Chief Justice of Common pleas under Elizabeth I, who acted as judge in the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. Initially published in 1590, West’s Simbolaeography, due to popular demand, was reworked, and split into two books, with the aim of making it easier to use. West was a renowned legal writer and lawyer, admitted a student at the Inner Temple in 1568. The notes on the fly record dates of admission to the Inns of court by owners of the book, for instance ‘Tho: Lo:’, who was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1599 and Antony Banebrigge to Clifford’s Inn, as well as some more general notes ‘And 1576 Easter day fell on the 22 of April’.
The first 57 sections define legal terms and explains Symbolaeography as ‘an art or cunning rightly to forme and make written Instruments’, as well as some of the basics processes and conventions of drafting legal agreements. Latin terms are printed in the margin, referring to the title of each process, such as emptio and venditio, terms for buying and selling, pigus, the general term for a pledge, and hypotheca, which refers to a pledge of debt. The rest of the text includes precedents pertaining to covenants, bills and obligations, recognisances, statutes, feoffments, uses, grants, mortgages, trusts, licenses, wills and testaments.
ESTC: S123386; STC: 25270; Winfield: p.144; not in Bridgman.In stock
