An Account of all the Manors, Messuages, Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, in the different Counties of England and Wales, held by Lease from the Crown. As contained in the Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire, into the State and Condition of the Royal Forests, Woods, and Land Revenues; With the Names of the Lessees, Dates and Terms of their Leases, Real Value, Fines, &c. To which is added, an Appendix, never before printed. by [COMMISSIONER OF HIS MAJESTY'S WOODS, FORESTS AND LAND REVENUES]

London, printed by Stafford and Davenport, for S. Hooper; and Messrs. Robinsons, 1787. Oblong large folio. Contemporary dull tree calf, spine ornamented in gilt and with gilt stamped lettering-piece CROWN ESTATE, boards with gilt-ruled fillets, marbled endpapers, expertly re-backed with original backstrip; pp. [iv], 76, [14]; apart from very light spotting, a very clean and attractive copy; contemporary engraved armorial bookplate, ownership inscription, dated 1797, on verso of front fly-leaf. This is a directory of the Crown Estate, with tennants' names, descriptions of the properties and rent increases, with Middlesex (Greater London) taking up - naturally - the largest section, from page 21 to 58. Particularly fascinating are the descriptions of properties in Central London. Sotherans' location is described as follows: 'Jane Visc. Dowager Gallway had a fifteen and a half year lease of properties with a 'yearly value per latest survey of £90'. They are 'five messuages on the West Side of Swallow Street, and Two Messuages on the North Side of Piccadilly' (p. 50). - Very rare and a fascinating source of late 18th-century property and wealth management. Provenance: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire.