Lett Joseph (2 results)

St. Quintin v. Lett: A Landmark 19th-Century Agricultural Dispute St. Quintin, Colonel. Lett, Joseph. Cleasby, Anthony, [1804-1879]. Important Trial on Farming: St. Quintin v. Lett: Before Mr. Baron Cleasby and a Special Jury, York Spring Assizes, 1871. York, [Eng.]: Johnson and Tesseyman, 1871. 206 pp. Sewn blue printed wrappers with paper label to spine. Worn and soiled. Internally clean. A good copy. $150. * The 1871 case of St. Quintin v. Lett, heard at the York Spring Assizes, is a landmark legal proceeding regarding agricultural laws and legislation in 19th-century England. The trial involved Colonel St. Quintin, a member of a prominent East Riding family with roots in Harpham and Scampston, and Joseph Lett. The trial is considered a precedent-setting event in the development of modern law, specifically concerning agricultural practices and tenant-landlord relations.

York, [Eng.]: Johnson and Tesseyman, 1871. (illustrator). York, [Eng.]: Johnson and Tesseyman, 1871. "The Turnip Controversy": A Defendant-Family Copy of the Landmark 1871 St. Quintin v. Lett Agricultural Trial [Agriculture]. [Yorkshire]. ST. QUINTIN, Colonel [Matthew] vs. LETT, Joseph. Important Trial on Farming: St. Quintin v. Lett: Before Mr. Baron Cleasby and a Special Jury, York Spring Assizes, 1871. York, [Eng.]: Printed by Johnson and Tesseyman, [1871]. Octavo, 206 pp. Original sewn blue printed wrappers with original printed paper label to spine. Wrappers worn and soiled; spine chipped. Internally clean and bright. $450. A Unique "Turnip Controversy" Association Copy. This landmark 1871 agricultural dispute pitted the landed gentry-the prominent St. Quintin family of Harpham and Scampston-against their tenant, Joseph Lett. While the official transcript addresses technical "tenant-right" precedents, this copy identifies the colloquial heart of the conflict through two distinct contemporary hands: 1. Family Provenance: A title-page presentation inscription from "Mr. John Lett" (dated Dec. 1901), a relative of the defendant. The 30-year interval between the trial and this gift suggests the volume was a carefully preserved family artifact. 2. The "Turnip" Gloss: A second, distinct penciled hand has added "The Turnip Controversy 1870" directly beneath the title. This annotation provides a rare, eyewitness window into the trial's origin: the catastrophic drought of 1870. In the Yorkshire "four-course" system, turnips were the vital winter fodder that cleaned the soil and provided manure. The 1870 drought caused widespread crop failures, forcing tenants into impossible choices: sell the failing crop for immediate cash (breaching their lease) or watch livestock starve. This volume records the legal fallout when the "gold standard" of Victorian farming failed, resulting in a high-stakes battle over land-use covenants and the "custom of the country." A rare survival of a provincial legal printing by Johnson and Tesseyman, significantly elevated by layers of local social history and direct defendant-family association.