241. Sheppard, William. The Faithful Councellor: or the Marrow of the Law in English. In Two Parts. The first, Methodically and plainly shewing, How any Action may be warrantably laid in the Common Law, for Relief in most Causes of wrongs done; in which is handled many of the special and most useful Heads of the Law now in practice. The second, by way of Appendix, in what Cases, and for what Inquiries Relief is to be had in the High Court of Chancery; wherein is set forth very much of the Learning touching the Jurisdiction and Method of proceedings in that Court. With an exact Alphabetical Table of the most material things contained in each Chapter. London: Printed by R.W. for E. Dod, N. Ekins, T. Brewster, and G. Moule, 1651, 1654. Two parts, complete. Fine, unrestored early binding. An exceptional copy of a rare book of seminal importance in English legal history. $2,500.
* First edition. In this comprehensive account of common law procedure (and also of cases in which relief may be had in Chancery), Sheppard presents one of the earliest English legal encyclopaedias, all important for being written and published in English, rather than Latin or Law French, the language of the courts and the legal profession. Its purpose was political, in the broadest sense, as much as legal, to stabilize the new Commonwealth by making its legal system comprehensible to the common man and amenable to reform, thereby lending legitimacy to the state and to the legal profession. Copies of this book, complete with both parts, are rare, and all the more so in this condition. For full details see, Dr. Nancy L. Matthews. William Sheppard, Cromwell’s Law Reformer.

242. Sheppard, William [fl. 1660]. The Touchstone of Common Assurances: or, A Plain and Familiar Treatise, Opening the Learning of the Common Assurances, or, Conveyances of the Kingdom [With]: Anthon, John [1784-1863]. An Appendix to the Touchstone of Common Assurances, Containing The Laws of the Several States in the Union. New York: Printed and Published by Isaac Riley, 1808-10. Three volumes in two. Star-paged. xxiii, 532; [3], 693 pp. Contemporary sheep. Joints cracked, but holding, spines chipped at head and tail, rubbed. Volume two lacks leather label, some foxing. Still an acceptable set. $400.
* First American edition. “The book is not only the earliest work exclusively devoted to the theory of conveyancing, but also a work which is still regarded as a high authority on this subject” Holdsworth, Sources and Literature of English Law, p.124. Holdsworth notes that author may have been Sir John Dodderidge, “a judge of James I’s reign,” rather than Sheppard. Marke 782. Marvin 643. HLC II:581. Parrish 418.

243. Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. From the Eleventh London Edition: With Notes and Supplementary Chapters, by William Playfair. And an Account of Dr. Smith’s Life, by Dugald Stewart. Hartford: Cooke & Hale, 1818. Two volumes. Full contemporary calf, quite rubbed and worn. Red leather lettering pieces, Vol. I partially removed, Vol. II chipped with loss. Hinges cracked but holding. Foxed. $300.
* First published in London in 1776, this being an early nineteenth century American edition. Maitland says of this classic work “...when all is said, the Wealth of Nations is the first systematic book on what is now called political economy, it is also the first powerful plea for commercial freedom.” Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 953, citing later ed. Printing and the Mind of Man 221.

244. [Socialism]. A Collection of Socialist Pamphlets. New York & Chicago, London, etc.: Various publishers, including National Executive Committee/Socialist Labor Party, various dates. The 47 individual pamphlets are bound in original printed wrappers, which have in turn been bound into four cloth volumes. Some illustrations. Many of the pamphlets bear either the signature or the bookplate of Jacob Broches Aronoff. Some browning (in one or two cases rather severely), cloth worn. $1,500.
* An important collection of the ephemeral documents of early 20th-century American Socialist movement. Inquire for detailed contents.

245. [Spencer, Thomas]. The New Vade Mecum; or Young Clerk’s Magazine. Lansingburgh: Printed by Silvester Tiffany for Tho’s Spencer, 1794. 346 pp. Contemporary calf. Extremities worn, several small wormholes in spine, some dampstaining. Still a quite usable copy. $450.
* First edition with this title. A reprint of The Young Clerk’s Magazine; or English Law Repository. HLC II:638. James 92. Parrish 420. Cohen, BEAL 8002.

246. [St. Germain, Christopher]. The Dialogs in English, betwene a Doctor of Divinity, and a Student in the Lawes of England. Newly Corrected and Imprinted, with New Additions. [London]: [Richard Tottell], [1580]. 24mo. [1], [2]-176, [4] l. Contemporary sheep, raised bands, blind stamped. Worn, head of spine chipped, with small portion missing and a few wormholes. Hinges starting but secure. Endpapers detached, printer’s waste at rear. Some worming in margin, not affecting text. Lower right hand corner of one leaf missing, not affecting text. Annotations on last leaf. Woodcut title-page. Ex-library, with bookplate. A solid copy. $2,500.
* A very important work in the development of equity, Doctor and Student appeared in numerous editions. It was frequently cited and influenced generations of legal writers down to Blackstone and later. St. Germain criticizes legal rules, and elucidates the law of reason and nature, as well as the foundations of the common law. HLC II:516. S&M I:25(34). Beale T478.

247. [St. Germain, Sir Christopher]. Two Dialogues in English between a Doctour of Divinity, and a Student in the Laws of England, of the Grounds of the Said Laws, and of Conscience. Newly Revised and Reprinted. London: Richard Atkyns and Edward Atkyns, 1673. Small octavo. [2], 366, [8] pp. Modern calf, with old spine label, raised bands. A very crisp, attractive copy. $500.
* A very important book, cited by generations of legal commentators, that heavily influenced the development of equity. S&M I:25(35). HLC II: 516. Wing S317 (present copy not mentioning John Streater, Eliz. Flesher and Henry Twyford).

248. [Society of Writers]. [Tytler, Fraser; W.Traquair Dickson; Charles Cook; T.G. Law and F.J. Grant]. A History of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet. With a List of the Members of the Society from 1594 to 1890 and an Abstract of the Minutes. Edinburgh: Printed for the Society at the University Press by T.& A. Constable, 1890. Quarto. Four full-page engravings. cxxvi, 494 pp. Buckram. Binding faded, some wear to head and tail of spine, front hinge starting. $300.
* First edition. “The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet is an ancient and honourable branch of the legal profession in Scotland. Long prior to the establishment of the court of session in 1532, the ‘wrytaris or clerkis to the signet’ existed as a society, and they have formed part of the college of justice since its foundation.” A thorough history of this august body, it includes a section on the library, which was described by Thomas Frognall Dibdin with typical hyperbole: “[I]t is scarcely more than a hundred paces to the neighboring Paradise of Bokes called the Signet Library. It is like ‘the purple light’ of Virgil’s Elysian fields.... Spacious, ornamental, commodious, and replenished thickly with goodly and gorgeous tomes, the whole has an absolutely palatial air. Grandees with fur cloaks should be the inmates....”

249. [Staunford, Sir William] [1509-1558]. Les Plees del Coron, diuisees in plusors titles & comon lieux. Per queux home pluis redement & plenairement trover a quelque chose que il quira, touchant les dits Plees, composees per le tres reuerend Iudge Monsieur Guilliaulme Staundforde Chiualer, dernierment corrigee auecques vn Table parfaicte des choses notables contenus en ycelle, nouelment reueu & corrigee. [London]: In Aedibus Richardi Tottellj, 1583. Small 4to. Title-page, [11], 196 fols. (Four folios misnumbered). Contemporary calf, rebacked, gilt decorations on covers. Quite rubbed, one corner exposed. Wood-cut border on title-page, wood-cut initials. Occasional marginal notes and underlining. Signature of William Comber on title-page. $1,500.
* Based upon Bracton and the Year Books, Staunford’s treatise is divided into three parts, the first treating offences, the second jurisdiction, appeals, indictments, and defenses, and the third, trials and convictions. First published posthumously in 1560, Plees was written after Staunford was appointed judge of the common pleas in 1554. Holdsworth, HEL V:394. Beale T490 (title a variant). STC 23223. Comber was apparently a Clerk of the Assizes and one of the justices of the Peace of the County of Warwick (note on front pastedown).

250. Staunford, Sir William [1509-1558]. Les Plees del Coron. [London]: Richard Totell, 1567. [25], 198 leaves. Sporadic light dampstaining to margins. Rebacked three quarter calf over marble boards. $2,000.
* First published posthumously in 1557, this work is listed as a “principle book” by Pollock and Maitland “which enable us to trace our modern laws of crimes, from the later midle ages onwards...” Pollock & Maitland, II:448. Based upon Bracton and the Year Books, Staunford’s treatise is divided into three parts, the first treating offences, the second jurisdiction, appeals, indictments, and defenses, and the third, trials and convictions. Plees was written after Staunford was appointed judge of the common pleas in 1554. Marke 453. Holdsworth, HEL V:394. Beale T448. STC 23221. S&M 365.

251. Stephen, [Henry John]. New Commentaries on the Laws of England (Partly Founded on “Blackstone.”). [Edited by] Edward Jenks et al. London: Butterworth, 1908. Four volumes. Original cloth. Ex-library. Some wear to spines, otherwise good. $200.
* Fifteenth edition. “Stephen drops the obsolete parts of Blackstone altogether, and aims at furnishing an elementary exposition of the English law... Those parts of the old Commentaries retained in the new, are distinguished by means of brackets, so that one is never at loss to know whether he is reading Blackstone or Stephen.” Marvin 664-5. S&M II:339. Not in Eller (though noting that Yale possesses other editions not mentioned in the Blackstone catalogue).

252. Sullivan, Francis Stoughton. Lectures on the Constitution and Laws of England: With a Commentary on Magna Charta, and Illustrations of Many of the English Statutes. To Which Authorities Are Added, and a Discourse Is Prefixed, Concerning the Laws and Government of England by Gilbert Stuart. Portland: Printed by Thomas B. Wait and Co., 1805. Two volumes in one. 8vo. lvi, 325; vii, 327, [1] pp. Contemporary half-calf over marbled boards. Marbled edges and endpapers. Front cover detached, corner of one leaf torn, not affecting text. Foxing, occasional notes in pencil. $250.
* First American edition. Lectures delivered in the University of Dublin where, in the author’s opinion, circumstances required a more detailed and precise historical work than that of Blackstone. With the supporting authorities supplied by Gilbert Stuart, who also adds an introductory essay. HLC II:687. Marke 368.

253. Swift, Zephaniah. A Digest of the Law of Evidence, in Civil and Criminal Cases. And a Treatise on Bills of Exchange, and Promissory Notes. Hartford: Oliver D. Cooke, 1810. xiv, [2], 361, index [30]pp. New quarter calf over cloth. Small worm-hole to upper margin of pp.v-10, not affecting text. Occasional browning. $750.
* First edition. “The first American work on Evidence. It is still an important book of reference, and was supplemented by a few illustrative cases well selected from the English reports, including the far-reaching decision of Omychund vs. Barker. In the same volume was included a Treatise on Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes.” Marke 531. HLC II:698. Marvin 681. Warren 337. Parrish 447. Soule 283. Cohen, BEAL 5129.

254. Swift, Zephaniah [1759-1823]. A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut. In Six Books. Windham: Printed by John Byrne for the Author, 1795-1796. Two volumes. Octavo. Folding copperplate engraving of descents. [4], 452; v, 479, [12] pp. Modern quarter-calf over cloth, gilt spine labels. Foxed, a few inked annotations. Ex-library (ink stamps on title-pages). A solid set in an attractive binding. $1,500.
* First edition, with the list of subscribers. “The first essay of its kind in America.” Sabin 94078. Swift’s System displays “a thoughtful philosophy of government as well as a thorough presentation of the constitutional and working government of the state.” DAB IX:250. “The book was successful and its impact significant. It was sold by subscription and the subscription list included the President and Vice-President of the United States, as well as a majority of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives. More than a hundred years later it was still cited by Connecticut courts.” Woxland & Ogden, Landmarks in American Legal Publishing 22. Evans 29600, 31260. HLC II:698. Marvin 681. Parrish 448. James 107, 108.

255. Swinburne, Henry. A Briefe Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills.... London: Printed by J.L[egat, et al.] for the Company of Stationers, 1640. Quarto. Woodcut head-pieces, tail-pieces, initials. [24], 344, 215, 31 pp. Contemporary speckled calf, rebacked, original spine laid down, raised bands, edges rouged. Minor dampstain, worming not affecting text, closed tear at mm3. A very good copy, in a nicely refurbished binding. $500.
* Fifth edition. The testamentary jurisdiction of ecclesiastical law was a separate branch of that law that produced its own literature. From the sixteenth- and well into the seventeenth- century the best book on this subject was the book on testaments written by Henry Swinburn and first published in 1590. “It is a very useful summary of the law as to wills and executors as administered in the ecclesiastical courts. Holdsworth, Sources p. 231. S&M I:494(34). STC 23551.

256. [Tariffs]. Tariff Acts Passed by the Congress of the United States from 1789 to 1895, Including All Acts, Resolutions, and Proclamations Modifying or Changing Those Acts. Compiled and Indexed by William H. Michael and Pitman Pulsifer. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896. Quarto. 588 pp. Cloth. A good copy. $150.

257. Taylor, Alfred S[waine] [1806-1880]. On Poisons in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence and Medicine. Edited with Notes and Additions by R. Eglesfeld Griffith. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1848. [i]-xvi, [13]-687 pp. 32 pp. catalogue of medical and scientific books published by Lea & Blanchard bound in at rear. Contemporary tan sheep, black leather spine label. Some rubbing, endpapers, table of contents and index foxed, else very good. $350.
* First American edition. First published in England in 1848, this first American edition is an extensive expansion of his chapters in A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence on the subject of poisons. This work has remained for many decades the standard authority on the subject. Its American editor was a Philadelphia physician, botanist, and educator of distinction. Catalogue of the Library of the Law School of Harvard University (1909) II:710.

258. Taylor, Silas. The History of Gavel-Kind, with the Etymology thereof; Containing Also an Assertion That Our English Laws Are for the Most Part Those That Were Used by the Antient Brytains, Notwithstanding the Several Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans; with Some Observations and Remarks upon Many Especial Occurrences of British and English History. To Which Is Added a Short History of William the Conquerour, Written in Latin by an Anonymous Author, in the Time of Henry the First. London: John Starkey, 1663. Small quarto. [25], 210, 211 (folding table, with mended tear), [2] pp. Bookseller’s catalogue at rear. Contemporary sheep, rebacked. Woodcut head-pieces and initials. Rubbed, chafed in spots. Front pastedown free. Some foxing, one leaf cropped closely with lose of a few letters only. A solid copy. $650.
* S&M I:477(32). Marvin 686. Wing T553.

259. Toller, Sir Samuel [d.1821]. The Law of Executors and Administrators. New York: Printed and Published by I. Riley, 1815. Star-paged. xv, 522, blank leaf, [70] pp. Contemporary calf, leather label. Worn, hinges starting. Withal a very good clean copy. $250.
* Third edition. Sir Samuel Toller’s work on the law of executors and administrators was originally published in 1800, but by 1838 had reached its seventh edition. Toller claimed “that the best book on the subject was Wentworth’s; but he criticized both its literary style and its method of arrangement. When he wrote, the last edition of Wentworth was old...so it did not include the latest decisions, which ‘at law are numerous and important, and in equity constitute a new system.’ [Preface]. Toller’s book is short, clear, and well-arranged.” Holdsworth, H.E.L. XII:620. It was not superceded until the publication of Williams’ great work on executors in 1832. HLC II:754. S&M I:494(36). Marvin 692. Parrish 459.

260. [Treason]. A Collection of the Several Statutes and Parts of Statutes Now in Force Relating to High Treason and Misprision of High Treason. London: Printed by Charles Bill, and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, 1709. [Bound with] A Form and Method of Trial of Commoners, in Cases of High Treason and Misprision of High Treason.... London: Printed by Charles Bill, and the Executrix of Thomas Newcomb, 1709. 16mo. 113, [14]; 44, [3] pp. Contemporary black morocco, gilt panelled spine. Sides with gilt panels enclosing Royal Coat of Arms. Gilt fore-edge and bottom-edges Marbled endpapers. Spine and extremities slightly worn. A very nice copy. $650.
* Engraved bookplate of Thomas Falconer [1805-1882] of Lincoln’s Inn on front pastedown as well as his ownership stamp on title page. S&M I:367. HLC I:423, 710.