A Treatise of the Nobilitie of the Realme. Collected Out of the Body

1642. of the Common Law, With Mention of Such Statutes. of the Common Law, With Mention of Such Statutes. "Nobilitie of the Realme" [Bird, William]. A Treatise of the Nobilitie of the Realme. Collected Out of the Body of the Common Law, With Mention of Such Statutes as are Incident Hereunto, Upon a Debate of the Barony of Aburgavenny. With a Table of the Heads Contained in this Treatise. London: Printed by A.N. for Mathew Walbanke and Richard Best, 1642. [iv], 157, [1] pp. Woodcut text illustrations of genealogical relationships. Octavo (5-3/4" x 3-1/2"). Contemporary sheep, blind rules to boards, blind fillets to spine. Light rubbing to extremities, tiny chip to head of spine, corners bumped. Title page and text printed within ruled borders. Light toning to text, somewhat heavier in places. A very appealing, well-preserved, fine copy. $450. * First edition, one of two issues. An important mid-seventeenth-century legal and constitutional treatise examining the nature, rights, and descent of English nobility as understood through the Common Law. Compiled in the context of the celebrated Barony of Abergavenny debate, this work draws extensively from judicial authorities and statutory law, offering a rigorous analysis of peerage, dignity, and inheritance at a moment of intense legal and political scrutiny on the eve of the English Civil War. The author systematically assembles principles "out of the body of the Common Law," with explicit reference to relevant statutes, making the treatise both a practical legal resource and a work of broader historical significance. Particularly noteworthy are the woodcut genealogical diagrams, which visually trace lines of descent and illuminate complex hereditary claims-an appealing feature in legal books of the period. The volume concludes with a detailed table of contents, facilitating consultation and reinforcing its utility for lawyers, antiquarians, and historians alike. Another edition, with additions by Sir John Doddridge, was published later in 1642 as The Magazine of Honour; Or, A Treatise of the Severall Degrees of the Nobility of this Kingdome. A scarce and desirable example of early English legal literature, of special interest to collectors of Common Law, peerage history, genealogy, and seventeenth-century English printing. English Short-Title Catalogue R18509.