1st edition. Full period leather binding. 32mo (2x4), 111 pages. Includes 4-page preliminary To the Reader. Thomas Barlow was an English academic and clergyman, who became Provost of The Queen's College, Oxford, and Bishop of Lincoln. He was seen in his own times and by Edmund Venables in the Dictionary of National Biography to have been a trimmer (conforming politically for the sake of advancement), a reputation mixed in with his academic and other writings on casuistry. His views were Calvinist and strongly anti-Catholic, and he was among the last English bishops to dub the Pope Antichrist. He worked in the 1660s for comprehension of nonconformists, but supported the crackdown of the mid-1680s, and declared loyalty to James II of England on his accession, having strongly supported the Exclusion Bill, which would have denied it to him. Rear boards is composed of 9 partial leaves of an earlier Latin imprint with red initial letters and neat black type, a knowledgable colleague has suggested that it is legal commentary text (not Law) dealing with with contracts, and responsibility, probably a Rhenish imprint from the 1480s. Incunable pages originally pressed together to form rear board, now seperating to individual sheets. Subjects: Divine right of kings -- Early works to 1800. Episcopacy. Politics and government. Early works. 1660-1688 Great Britain. OCLC: 15226351. OCLC lists 4 copies worldwide (UCLA, Yale, Trinity Dublin, Bayer. Staatsbib). Lacks blank front endpapers. Leather binding is worn with some spotting, lacks the front stiffener (board) and is separated from stiffener/board at rear as described above. Some edgewear to margins of title, just touching one letter, text pages remain nice. Good Condition Thus. Scarce. (AC-22-6)
