The Statutes of the Realm was a ground-breaking publication which; for the first time; brought together printed editions of Magna Carta as issued in 1215; 1216; 1217; 1225 and 1297. The text of each document was reproduced to show abbreviations; corrections and variants between the surviving copies. Most remarkably; facsimiles were also published of selected manuscripts; including the Lincoln Cathedral version of King John's 1215 Magna Carta. The editors based their text of the 1215 charter on this Lincoln copy; collated with the two then held by the British Museum (now at the British Library) and the text in the Red Book of the Exchequer (now at the National Archives). The Salisbury Cathedral manuscript of Magna Carta was rediscovered after 1810; when this publication was prepared. The House of Commons had first proposed the publication of the statutes in 1800; and this is the copy presented to the King's own library.