"A book should serve as the axe for the frozen sea within us."
— Franz Kafka

London: Printed by R.W. for Ralph Smith, 1674. [Anti-Catholic Propaganda] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (17 x 11cm), pp.[32]; 286; [4]. Later (likely late eighteenth-century) brown straight grained calf, with gilt titles to a black label, and gilt decorations to spine. Trimmed, with all edges and endpapers marbled. Some black ink scribbling to upper margin of title page; a small black ink note to base. Light occasional spotting throughout. Rubbing and bumping to joints and board edges. Head and tail of spine pulled. An old number or shelf-mark laid over spine head. Very good. A magistrate and antiquarian of Leicestershire, Staveley here considers the competing claims of the Papacy, the King of England, and English Common Law in pre-Reformation England. Item #54477
ESTC: R12101.
Price: £275.00