Scarce 16th-century book: Magna Charta, cum statutis quae antiqua vocantur, iam recens excusa, & summa fide emendata, iuxta vetusta exemplaria ad Parliamenti rotulos examinata: quibus accesserunt nonnulla nunc primum typis edita. London: Richard Tottel, 1556. Two parts in one volume, bound as a hardcover in 20th-century half brown calf, 4 x 5.5, 484 pages. Extensively annotated throughout with contemporary marginalia; also bears a 19th-century gift inscription to free end page.
This was the first edition of the Magna Carta published by Richard Tottel, an influential English printer who focused his craft on legal documents. In the preface to this edition, Tottel points out that although fellow London printer Thomas Marshe had released an impression of the Magna Carta in 1554, this version is superior, with "the print much pleasanter to the eye in the books of years than any that ye have been yet served with, paper and margin as good and as fair as the best" and "chapiters of statutes truly divided and noted with their due nombers, the alphabeticall table justly ordred and quoted, the leaves not one falsly marked."
The Magna Carta, a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England on June 15, 1215, was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law. The document established enduring principles of freedom and, during the American Revolution, served to inspire and justify action in liberty’s defense. The profound influence of the Magna Carta can be found in both the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution.
