"CHARGES LORD COKE WITH PIRACY AND NUMBERLESS ERRORS": PRYNNE'S ANIMADVERSIONS ON COKE'S FOURTH INSTITUTE, 1669 FOLIO FIRST EDITION

PRYNNE, William. Brief Animadversions on, Amendments of, & Additional Explanatory Records to the Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England, Concerning The Jurisdiction of Courts, compiled by the late Famous Lawyer Sir Edward Cooke Knight. London: Thomas Ratcliffe and Thomas Daniel, for A. Crooke, W. Leake, et al., 1669. Small folio (7-1/2 by 11-1/2 inches), contemporary full calf rebacked, raised bands, red morocco spine label; pp. (15), (1), 423, (69). $950.

First edition of Prynne examining Coke's Fourth Institute in great detail, expounding upon this important Institute page by page, often quite critically.

"William Prynne wrote a folio of Brief animadversions upon the IVth Institute, in which he charges Lord Coke with piracy and numberless errors; but the virulence and spleen manifested in his criticisms detracts very much from the value of his animadversions'' (Marvin, 209). Prynne, a puritan pamphleteer and one of the most outspoken and controversial political figures of his day, was the author of over 200 books and pamphlets, for which he was, at various times, imprisoned, fined and tortured. Marvin, 591. HLC II, 402. Engraved armorial bookplate; early owner ink signatures to title page.

Text generally clean. Pastedown endpapers lifted; light wear to contemporary calf covers, corners rounded. A very good copy.