Judge Dodaridge, His Law of Nobility and Peerage, Wherein the..

1658. London: Printed for L. Chapman, 1658.. London: Printed for L. Chapman, 1658. A Notably Handsome Copy [Bird, William]. Judge Dodaridge, His Law of Nobility and Peerage. Wherein the Antiquities, Titles, Degrees, And Distinctions; Concerning the Peeres and Nobility of this Nation, Are Excellently Set Forth. With the Knights, Esquires, Gentlemen, And Yeomen; And Matters Incident to Them, According to the Lawes and Customes of England. London: Printed for L. Chapman, 1658. [vi], 56, 65-114, 139-170, 105-158 pp. Pagination irregular. Lacking final leaf, a blank. Woodcut text illustrations of genealogical relationships. Octavo (6-1/2" x 4"; 16.5 x 10.15 cm). Nineteenth-century Mansell binding, sprinkled calf, gilt fillets to boards, raised bands, lettering piece and gilt fillets to spine, gilt tooling to board edges, gilt inside dentelles, marbled endpapers. Light rubbing to spine ends and corners, light toning to interior, moderate toning to edges of most leaves, faint dampstaining to lower outside corner of a several leaves near center of text block, headlines of a few leaves affected by trimming (with no loss to legibility). Shelfmark in small early hand to head of title page, early manuscript corrections to numbering of table of contents. A notably handsome copy. $500. * Only edition, a revised and expanded version of Bird's Treatise of the Nobilitie of the Realme (1642). The occasion for this treatise was a contemporary controversy regarding the legitimacy of Edward Nevill's claim to the title of Lord Bergavenny. His claim is the starting point for a general review of peerage law. 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. Bird's 1658 edition draws on this work, which is why its title refers to Dodderidge and "his law." OCLC locates 7 copies in North American law libraries (Columbia, Harvard, Library of Congress, Nova Scotia Legislative Library, University of Cincinnati, University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania). English Short-Title Catalogue R11125.