Portrait of Brooke attributed to Thomas Athow, after unknown artist
watercolour, early 19th century – Courtesty of the National Portrait Gallery
La graunde abridgement, collecte & escrie per le iudge tresreuerend Syr Robert Brooke chiualier, nadgairs chiefe Iustice del common banke
1573 English Short Title Catalogue record
1576 English Short Title Catalogue record
1586 English Short Title Catalogue record
Robert Brooke [Broke or Brook] (d. 1558) was a judge, legal writer, and speaker of the House of Commons. Brooke’s La graunde abridgement, was first published posthumously in 1573 by Tottel, who reprinted it in a smaller format in 1576 and again in 1586. Brooke’s abridgement was considered more ambitious than Fitzherbert’s and contained over 20,000 entries digested under a wider range of subjects. It also had useful marginal notes guiding the reader to its contents, making it easier to use than Fitzherbert’s text. Although the abridgement was primarily derived from the Year Books, Brooke added a number of cases from his own observation, some statutes and other sources, and even a few extracts from readings in the Inns of Court.
Pictured below are copies of the 1573 and 1586 folio editions held in the Royal Courts of Justice Library.
Along with Fitzherbert, this publication is an example of the work Tottel did to regularise legal citations, By providing uniform foliation in all editions, Tottel made it possible for readers to cite to the exact location of a case in related works. The Tartlon Law Library in Texas has an exhibition, Imprinted at the Signe of the Hand and Starre: Richard Tottell and Sixteenth Century Legal Citation which details the work Tottel did to standardise citations. This exhibition also demonstrates how abridgements were used.
Richard Tottel 