The FREE-HOLDERS GRAND INQUEST, Touching Our Sovereign Lord the King and His Parliament

[London]: Printed in the three and twentieth year of the Raign of our Soveraign Lord King Charles, 1648. 1st edition (Laslett, p. 47; NCBEL I, 2338; Wing F-912). Modern brown quarter calf [appears late 20th C] with marbled paper boards. Only light wear to binding. Age-toning to paper. Period marginialia throughout. A VG+ copy of this important political treatise.. [8], 64 pp. Printer's device to t.p. Head- tailpieces. 4to: A - I^4. 7-9/16" x 5-5/8"

Freeholder "is the prime source for Filmer's constitutional doctrines and is of great interest as a statement of Royalist absolutism. ... The contents of this tract are of interest to the constitutional historian for two reasons. First, it illustrates the great importance of the work of scholars of the period to the constitutional controversies. Secondly, it shows that Royalist absolutism was worked out in detail before the Civil War ...." [Laslett. PATRIARCHA, p. 128]. While amply represented in institutional holdings, this work now rather uncommon in the trade, with RBH having no entries for the 1st edition in the last century.