Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In old English law, charter land, held by deed under certain rents and free services; free socage land. This species of tenure has given rise to the modern freeholds.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (O. Eng. Law) Charter land held by deed under certain rents and free services, which differed in nothing from free socage lands. This species of tenure has given rise to the modern freeholds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Anglo-Saxon In Anglo-Saxon society, land held by charter or written title, free from all fief, fee, service, and/or fines. Such was formerly held chiefly by the nobility, and denominated freeholders.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English bōcland, equivalent to book +‎ land.

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Examples

  • In time, the king and the Witenagemot granted charters in other cases, and the new 'bookland' to a great extent superseded the old 'folkland,' accompanied by a grant of the right of holding special courts.

    A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII Samuel Rawson Gardiner 1865

  • There's no doubt a lot of back-slapping going on the Washington Post newsroom this afternoon (and, as someone who grew up on the Post, it's always a pleasure to read a headline like this in the New York Times: "Washington Post Wins 6 Pulitzer Prizes"), but in bookland, here are the winners of the 2008 Pulitzers (two finalists in each category are announced at the same time as the winners):

    An Amazon.com Books Blog featuring news, reviews, interviews and guest author blogs. 2008

  • Their National Independent Bookseller Month celebration is a chance for your favorite little corner of bookland to be honored.

    Archive 2008-04-01 a. fortis 2008

  • Their National Independent Bookseller Month celebration is a chance for your favorite little corner of bookland to be honored.

    The WritingYA Weblog: Peddling Plots tanita davis 2008

  • Thus a privileged land-tenure was created -- bookland; the rules as to the succession of kinsmen were set at nought by concession of testamentary power and confirmations of grants and wills; special exemptions from the jurisdiction of the hundreds and special privileges as to levying fines were conferred.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various

  • Justus he hallowed as bishop in Kent itself at Rochester, which is four-and-twenty miles right west from Canterbury, in which city likewise King Ethelbert ordered to build a church, and to hallow it to St. Andrew the apostle; and to each of these bishops the King gave his gifts and bookland and possessions for them to brook with their fellows.

    The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 04 Rossiter Johnson 1885

  • Afterwards the clergy introduced a system by which the owner could grant the 'bookland,' held by book or charter, setting at nought the claim of his kinsmen, and in order to give validity to the arrangement, obtained the consent of the king and his Witenagemot (see p. 45).

    A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII Samuel Rawson Gardiner 1865

  • They alone preserve the phantasmagoria of bookland and dreamland.

    Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series George Robert Aberigh-Mackay 1864

  • Out of this, by the common consent, portions might be cut off and booked -- granted by a written document -- to particular men as their own bookland.

    William the Conqueror Edward Augustus Freeman 1857

  • "Don't fret, my dear, I shall be quite happy in this glorious bookland.

    When the Birds Begin to Sing Harold Piffard

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