too hot to handle
SPELMAN, Sir Henry.
Tithes too hot to be touched. Certain treatises, wherein is shewen that tithes are due. By the law of nature, scripture, nations, therefore neither Jewish, Popish, or inconvenient. Written by Sr. Henry Spelman Knight, and others. With an alphabeticall table.
London: for Philemon Stephens, [1636].
[issued and bound with:] An apology of the treatise De non temerandis ecclesiis. Against a treatise by an unknowne Authour, written against it in some particulars by Sir Henry Spelman, Knight. Also his epistle to Richard Carew Esquire, of Anthony in Cornwall concerning Tithes. London: by J.L. for Philemon Stephens, 1646.[and:] An answer to a question of a gentleman of quality... concerning the settlement or abolition of Tithes by the Parliament. [n.p., n.d.]3 parts in one vol., 4to (185 × 136 mm.), pp. [liv], 189, [37], 27, [1]. Woodcut ornaments. Contemporary blindruled calf, spine lettered in early manuscript, wants rear endpapers, one front free endpaper torn with some loss. Slightly later inscription (Hen[ry] Margett 1705). A very nice unsophisticated copy.
First edition. Spelman was one of the most prolific of the early Stuart antiquaries. Profoundly concerned with the continuity of English institutions, he was a champion of the payment of tithes to the church and wrote several works in defence of the system. His De non temerandis ecclesiis: a Tract of the Rights and Respect due unto the Churches (1613), a criticism of the appropriation of church property for profane purposes, was influential enough to encourage the jurist John Selden to publish a response The Historie of Tithes (1618), which refuted the contention that tithes were justified by both history and constant usage. The present treatise, published posthumously from Spelman's papers by Jeremy Stephens, takes up the debate with Selden once more. It was reprinted in 1637 as The Larger Treatise on Tithes.
Wing S4931; S4917; A3341B.
£575.00
US$1143.04*
* Given as a guide only. Based on an exchange rate of £1 = US$1.987896 for the day 5 July 2008 but liable to fluctuate.
5 July 2008