John Selden (1584-1654), English legal scholar and parliamentarian. Selden was renowned in his time as one of England's leading learned men. He studied at the University of Oxford, and qualified to practice law in 1612. He entered politics in the 1620s and was returned to several parliaments. His reputation came from his works, which included 'Analecton Anglobritannicon' (1607) and 'History of Tithes' (1618), as well as works on Syrian and Egyptian history. One of his best known works, the posthumously published 'Table Talk' (1689), gave his views in discourses on Religion and the State. Artwork from an 1847 edition of 'Table Talk'.