embodied the rules of law
followed in the maritime cities of the Mediterranean coast by the
commercial judges known generally as consuls (q.v.). The earliest extant
edition of the work, which was printed at Barcelona in 1494, is without
a title-page or frontispiece, but it is described by the above-mentioned
title in the epistle dedicatory prefixed to the table of contents. The
only known copy of this edition is preserved in the National Library in
Paris. The epistle dedicatory states that the work is an amended version
of the _Book of the Consulate_, compiled by Francis Celelles with the
assistance of numerous shipmasters and merchants well versed in maritime
affairs. According to a statement made by Capmany in his _Codigo de los
costumbras maritimas de Barcelona_, published at Madrid in 1791, there
was extant to his knowledge in the last century a more ancient edition
of the _Book of the Consulate_, printed in semi-Gothic characters, which
he believed to be of a date prior to 1484. This is the earliest period
to which any historical record of the _Book of the Consulate_ being in
print can be traced back. There are, however, two Catalan MSS. preserved
in the National Library in Paris, the earliest of which, being MS.
Espagnol 124, contains the two first treatises which are printed in the
_Book of the Consulate_ of 1494, and which are the most ancient portion
of its contents, written in a hand of the 14th century, on paper of that
century. The subsequent parts of this MS. are on paper of the 15th
century, but there is no document of a date more recent than 1436. The
later of the two MSS., being MS. Espagnol 56, is written throughout on
paper of the 15th century, and in a hand of that century, and it
purports, from a certificate on the face of the last leaf, to have been
executed under the superintendence of Peter Thomas, a notary public, and
the scribe of the Consulate of the Sea at Barcelona.

The edition of 1494, which is justly regarded as the _editio princeps_
of the _Book of the Consulate_, contains, in the first place, a code of
procedure issued by the kings of Aragon for the guidance of the courts
of the consuls of the sea, in the second place, a collection of ancient
customs of the sea, and thirdly, a body of ordinances for the government
of cruisers of war. A colophon at the end of these ordinances informs
the readers that "the book commonly called the _Book of the Consulate_
ends here"; after which there follow