Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice, Engraving by J. Posselwhite, circa 1870
€ 165
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1870
Mapmaker / artist
J. Posselwhite (engraver), after the portrait in the hall of Serjeants' Inn
Publisher
William Mackenzie, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and New York
Technique
Steel engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
28 × 18 cm (11.0 × 7.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-22
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good condition for its age. A few small spots to the margins; small crease at the right edge; faint pencil numbering in the lower left margin. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
A steel engraved portrait lettered "Coke.", the great English jurist Sir Edward Coke (1552 to 1634), engraved from the portrait that hung in the hall of Serjeants' Inn. He is shown half length in a soft black cap and a deep pleated ruff, with a pointed beard, wearing fur trimmed judicial robes and the collar of SS, the linked chain of office worn by the chief justices. The line beneath the image reads "Engraved by J. Posselwhite from a Picture in the Hall of Sergeants Inn, Chancery Lane." and the foot of the sheet carries the imprint "William Mackenzie, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London & New York."
Coke was Attorney General under Elizabeth I, then Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and of the King's Bench under James I, and the most formidable legal mind of his age. His insistence that the king himself was under the law cost him his place on the bench in 1616, and in Parliament he was a principal author of the Petition of Right of 1628. His Reports and his Institutes of the Lawes of England shaped the common law for centuries and were read closely in the American colonies, where his arguments for the rights of the subject found a second life.
James Posselwhite was a London engraver of portraits, much employed on the plates of Victorian biographical works. Here he renders the fur, the crisp folds of the ruff and the heavy links of the collar in clean, varied line against a dark ground.
William Mackenzie published illustrated histories and biographical works in parts from Glasgow, with houses in Edinburgh, London and New York; the four city imprint belongs to the later issues of his books, around 1870.
A fine choice for a law office, a judge's chambers, a law library or a collection of English legal history.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
