Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBook1897 facsimile of 1687 original

The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property

Yale Law Library · 1897 facsimile of 1687 original

An 1897 facsimile of William Penn's 1687 book, the first printing of Magna Carta in America.

A facsimile of the first American printing of Magna Carta, showing the charter's influence on the colonies.

Ask Magna Carta about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Open book spread. Left page headed 'Introduction' with printed English text, page number 12. Right page opens with decorative illuminated initials 'Magna Charta' and text beginning 'EDWARD, by the grace of God King of England', page number 13.
The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property, facsimile edition, Yale Law Library, 1897 (original 1687).

About this source

What it is

This is a facsimile reproduction, published by Yale Law Library, of William Penn's 1687 book 'The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property', which included the first American printing of Magna Carta. The spread shown includes an introduction and the opening of the charter's text, beginning with King Edward's name.

Why it matters

Penn's printing carried Magna Carta's ideas about liberty and property across the Atlantic to the American colonies, where they later influenced colonial and revolutionary thinking about rights and government. It shows how a medieval English charter kept being reprinted and reinterpreted centuries later, far from where it was first agreed.

Look closer

  • Why might Penn have wanted colonists to read Magna Carta?
  • What does it mean that this is a facsimile rather than the original 1687 book?
  • How might ideas in Magna Carta have shaped later American documents?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Magna Carta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Magna Carta sources

Meet the AI Magna Carta →
Photograph of the 1215 Magna Carta parchment, a dense page of handwritten medieval Latin in brownish ink with line breaks and a small marginal number at top left.Document

Primary source

Magna Carta (1215 Exemplification)

1215

Photograph of a round brown wax seal impression with a raised equestrian figure of a rider on horseback, attached by a cream parchment tag with two long tails hanging from its base. A faint inscription appears around the edge.Document

Primary source

Articles of the Barons

1215

Photograph of a medieval parchment charter covered in dense brown-black handwritten Latin text in columns, with a dark green wax seal on a tan cord at the bottom showing a seated mounted knight. This is the 1225 Charter of the Forest.Document

Primary source

Charter of the Forest

1217

Photograph of a large medieval parchment document covered in handwritten Latin text in brown ink, with a red wax seal hanging on a strip of parchment tabs at the bottom. Several small holes and tears are visible along the edges.Document

Primary source

Magna Carta 1297 (National Archives, Washington)

Edward I of England · 1297

A parchment document with a dangling wax seal, displayed under glass in a wooden frame inside a case with wood-paneled walls. The seal hangs from the lower edge of the document.Document

Primary source

Magna Carta 1297 (Parliament House, Canberra)

Edward I of England · 1297

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Magna Carta now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions