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(SKENE, Sir John, comp.)
The lawes and actes of Parliament,
maid be King Iames the First, and his successours kinges of Scotland: visied, collected and extracted furth of the register. The contentes of this buik, are expremed in the leafe following.
First edition. John Skene (c. 1540–1617) had been appointed to a commission in 1592 to review and print acts of parliament and other laws, which resulted in the present work, containing post-1424 statutes. Appended to it is De verborum significatione, with separate title page also dated 1597, the first published dictionary of Scots law. The present volume is expanded by the insertion – after the fifteenth parliament of James VI (1597) and before "Ane table of the principall maters conteined in this buik" – of the Scottish parliaments of James VI to 1621. Skene was knighted in 1604 and was appointed a commissioner for negotiating the proposed union with England. His compilation is eagerly sought after by golf collectors, as it includes several references to the game, from James II's banning of it (along with football) in 1457 as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery, the first written record of golf.
Folio (253 × 174 mm). Contemporary panelled calf, rebacked and recornered c. 1800 with gilt spine lettered in the second compartment. Without the additional engraved title and the first leaf of explanatory verses as often; letterpress title trimmed and mounted with some loss to engraved headpiece but no letters; second and third leaves present (sigs. pi4 and a1) similarly trimmed and inlaid; next 11 leaves (sigs. a2–c4) reinforced in gutter and at outer corners not affecting text; occasional paper repairs elsewhere; last two leaves present (sigs. T2–3) with paper repairs at head with some loss of text to 6 lines at head of T2 and 10 lines at head of T3; lacking final leaf (T4). The interpolated section somewhat closely trimmed with occasional loss of catchwords or signatures. Armorial bookplate of George Noble. Rubbed, some staining and spotting, a few pen trials on blank leaves, a well-used copy.
