[Printed pamphlet; signed presentation copy.] Observations on the Public Records of the Four Courts at Westminster, and on the Measures recommended by the Committee of the House of Commons in 1800; For rendering them more accessible to the Public.

Author: 
William Illingworth (c.1764-1845), F.S.A., Deputy Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, c.1805-1819
Observations on the Public Records of the Four Courts at Westminster,
Publication details: 
[One of fifty copies, privately printed.] 'For William Illingworth, of the Honorable Society of Gray's Inn, F.S.A. and Late Deputy Keeper of His Majesty's Records in the Tower.' [London: 1831.]
£450.00
SKU: 10798

8vo, 67 pp. Signed by author 'W: Illingworth' at head of title page, with inscription in another hand: 'Presented to the Law Institution by me | 12th April 1838'. The blank reverse of the contents leaf carries the stamp of the Incorporated Law Society (also on blank verso of last leaf), and the withdrawal stamp of the Law Society. In modern calf half-binding, marbled boards, gilt. A good, tight copy on aged paper; with binding in excellent condition. Around 1805 Illingworth was appointed Deputy Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London; he resigned in 1819. In expectation 'of becoming a subcommissioner under the new record commission at Christmas 1832, he drew up for the private use of the commissioners, in May 1831', the present item, of which only fifty copies were printed, 'by the board [...] for the private use of the commissioners' (Oxford DNB). The only copies on COPAC are at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Oxford, Lambeth Palace, University of London, and Manchester.