11. Godwin, William. [1756-1836]. An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness. London: Printed for G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1793. Two volumes with continuous pagination. Quarto (8-1/4" x 10"). Recent period-style speckled calf, gilt double rules to boards, gilt-edges raised bands and morocco lettering pieces to spine, endpapers renewed. A few minor abrasions (that could be buffed out). Owner signature in fine early hand to heads of title pages. Light foxing to a few leaves, interiors otherwise fresh. Ex-library. Inventory number in later hand to verso of each title page, residue from label to verso of Volume II half-title. An elegant copy of an important work.  $7,500.
* First edition. Along with those of Burke and Paine, Godwin’s Enquiry was one of the most influential English political books of the late eighteenth century inspired by the French Revolution. It was also “one of the earliest, clearest, and most absolute theoretical expositions of socialist and anarchist doctrine. Godwin believed that the motives of all human doctrine were subject to reason, that reason taught benevolence, and that therefore all rational creatures could live in harmony without laws and institutions. (...) The time would come, he maintained, when every man by doing what seemed right in his own eyes, would also be doing what was best for all men, because all, through discussion, would be guided by purely rational principles. Natural relationships had no meaning—marriage and parental duty were alike irrational, and property the worst form of tyranny”(Printing and the Mind of Man). It was an equally important landmark in the development of Utilitarian thought, and on political thinking generally. 4,000 copies were sold within a few years of its first publication. It was acquired by several corresponding societies, which increased its circulation considerably among others who could not afford to purchase the book. (Members of these societies also read it to illiterate members.) Godwin was the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), and father of Mary Shelly, the author of Frankenstein and wife of the Percy Bysshe Shelley, a devoted follower of Godwin’s political theories. Carter and Muir, Printing and the Mind of Man 243. See illustration below.

12. Selden, John [1584-1654]. Opera Omnia, Tam Edita Quam Inedita. Collegit ac Recensuit; Vitam Auctoris, Praefationes, & Indices Adjecit, David Wilkins. London: Guil Bowyer [Volume One]; S. Palmer [Volume Two]; T. Wood [Volume Three], 1726. Three volumes in six books. Complete set. Various paginations. Text in double columns. Folio (9-1/2" x 15"). Contemporary paneled calf, rebacked retaining original extra-gilt spines, hinges mended. Some rubbing, rubbed, front joint of volume one cracking. Copperplate portrait frontispiece by George Vertue after P.Lely, woodcut and copperplate text illustrations and ornaments, woodcut head and tail-pieces, several leaves printed in red and black. Internally fresh. An attractive set.  $5,000.
* First collected edition. Limited to 750 sets, edited, with preface, index and life of the author, by Dr. David Wilkins. Witha subscriber list. Texts in English and Latin. Collects all of the major legal treatises, antiquarian studies and oriental studies of a pivotal scholar in English legal history. Among the titles included are De Anno Civili Veteris Ecclesiae Judaicae Dissertatio, De Diis Syris, Dissertatio ad Fletam, Mare Clausum, Epistolae & Poemata, Titles of Honour, Uxor Ebraica, The History of Tythes, Of the Judicature in Parliament, Speeches and Arguments and Table Talk. This set is notable also for its handsome layout and typography, which features Roman, Italic and Hebrew type created for Bowyer by William Caslon. Updike refers to it as Bowyer’s “greatest achievement” and as “a stupendous piece of work”. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations 1:36 (76). Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 635. Updike, Printing Types II:102, 136-137. See illustration below.

13. Stevens, B[enjamin] F[ranklin] [1833-1902], Compiler, Editor and Translator. B.F. Stevens’s Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America, 1773-1783. With Descriptions, Editorial Notes, Collations, References and Translations. London: Issued Only to Subscribers, 1889-1898. 24 solander cases (9-1/2" x 14-1/2") containing 5,107 items; Folio index volume (9-1/2" x 14-1/2"), xxx, 351 pp. Portrait frontispiece of Stevens. Cases and Index bound in attractive recent quarter maroon cloth with gilt stamping over original tan pebbled cloth, hinges and other joints reinforced. Light rubbing and edgewear. Interior of index and contents pristine. A stunning collection.  $7,500.
* From an edition limited to 200 sets. One of the great monuments of nineteenth-century archival research, Stevens’ collection comprises facsimiles of 2,107 diplomatic, religious, colonial, military, naval and legal documents from Great Britain, France, Holland and Spain, as well as maps and charts. These are supplemented with 3,000 descriptions, introductions, translations, editorial notes, collations and references. This set is complemented by a masterly index volume (with numerous cross-references) arranged by date, author and subject. Stevens included every significant item he could find ranging from correspondence between Benjamin Franklin and the Comte de Vergennes to papers relating the Battle of Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris.
     A pleasure to behold, these items are printed on high-quality paper produced especially for this project. All editorial matter is photo-reproduced from texts written in an elegant hand. Each facsimile is trimmed and bound to match the exact size of the originals. The Index volume has wide-margined deckle leaves and is decorated with elegant engraved head-pieces, tail-pieces and decorated initials. British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) [BMC] 24:240. See illustration below.

14. Viner, Charles [1678-1756]. A General Abridgment of Law and Equity: Alphabetically Digested Under Proper Titles, with Notes and References to the Whole. Aldershot: Printed for the Author, 1742-1753. 23 volumes. Folio (9" x 14").

Several Gentlemen in the Respective Branches of the Law. An Abridgment of the Modern Determinations in the Courts of Law and Equity: Being a Supplement to Viner’s Abridgment. London: Printed by A. Strahan, 1799-1806. Six volumes. Octavo (5-3/4" x 9").

Together 29 Volumes. Later three-quarter calf over marbled boards, raised bands, lettering pieces, and gilt ornaments to spine, endpapers renewed, untrimmed edges. Negligible shelfwear. Early owner signature to each title page, brief annotations in some places. Occasional light foxing, faint dampstaining and clean tears, browning to outer (untrimmed) edges of leaves, interiors otherwise fresh. An appealing copy of an uncommon complete set.  $9,500.
* First editions. Descended from Rolle’s Abridgment, Viner’s Magnum Opus marks the end of an era in English legal bibliography. Originally intended as a continuation of D’Anver’s abridgment, which ends at “Factor,” Viner’s work went on to become the longest and most detailed work of its kind. According to Winfield, “[i]t is the megatherium of the older abridgments...For several years we have used Viner for the purpose of getting all available references to all existing cases on three or four branches of the law, and we have found his book very useful.” Marvin adds that “it is a vast Index of the law” that “often rewards the labour when all other resources have failed.” In addition to the Abridgment, Viner contributed much for the study of English law through his posthumous establishment of the Vinerian chair and Vinerian scholarships. The first holder of the Vinerian Chair was Sir William Blackstone. During his tenure he delivered the lectures that formed the basis of his Commentaries on the Laws of England. OCLC locates 26 copies of the Abridgment, 50 copies of the Supplement. Winfield, The Chief Sources of English Legal History 244-45. Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 711-712. Cowley A Bibliography of Abridgements, Digests, Dictionaries and Indexes of English Law to the Year 1800 279, 294. See illustration below.

15. Angell, Joseph K. [1794-1857], and Samuel Ames [1806-1865]. Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations Aggregate. Revised, Corrected and Enlarged by John Lathrop. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1882. lxviii, 908 pp. Octavo (6" x 9-1/2"). Contemporary law calf, blind frames to boards, raised bands and red and black lettering pieces to spine. Faint dampspotting, some rubbing to extremities, front hinge starting, crack near end of text block. Early bookplate to front pastedown, bookseller stamp to front free endpaper, internally clean.  $175.
* Eleventh and final edition. The first American treatise on the subject, it departed from English models to address the unique characteristics of the American corporation in the years after 1815, an era of unprecedented growth that was encouraged by the courts. It was the standard treatise of its day. The first edition was published in 1832. The final edition is desirable because it summarizes the state of the field during the Gilded Age, the era that witnessed the rise of such businesses as Standard Oil. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) [HLC] I:54.

16. Angell, Joseph K., and Thomas Durfee. Choate, George F., Editor. A Treatise on the Law of Highways. With Notes and References to later cases. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1886. xl, 625 pp. Octavo (6" x 9"). Later buckram, black-stamped title to spine. Light shelfwear and some soiling, internally clean. Ex-law library. Location label to spine, stamps to edges and endleaves, card pocket to rear pastedown. A solid copy.  $250.
* Third, and final, edition=1858. Angell wrote several standard American treatises of the nineteenth century on such topics as water courses (1840) and tide waters (1826). The Law of Highways was first published in 1858. HLC I:53.

17. Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Memoir of Nicholas Hill, A Member of the Bar of New York, Who Died in the City of Albany, On the 1st of May, 1859. New York: Committee of the Bar of the City of New York, 1859. 60 pp. Engraved portrait frontispiece, mourning vignettes to head of each page. Octavo (6" x 9"). Original moire cloth, blind frames to boards, gilt device to front boards, gilt title to spine. Some rubbing to extremities, crack between front free endpaper and following leaf, internally clean.  $40.
* Hill [1806-1859] was a prominent attorney from the Hudson Valley and State Reporter from 1840 to 1845. This book contains a biography of Hill and testimonials by members of the New York Bar. Both parts offer insight into the bar’s self-image during this period.

18. [Blackstone, Sir William (1723-1780)]. [Wilkes Cause]. The Case of the Late Election for the County of Middlesex, Considered on the Principles of the Constitution and the Authorities of Law. London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1769. [iii], 44 pp. Half-title lacking. Quarto (9" x 11-1/2"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound into recent period-style speckled calf, blind double rules to boards, raised bands and lettering piece to spine. Small scratch to front board, small institutional inkstamp to title page, negligible light foxing to a few leaves. A handsomely bound fresh copy of a scarce title.  $1,850.
* First edition. In 1768 Wilkes [1727-1797], the publisher of the controversial paper the North Britain, was elected to Parliament by Middlesex County. However, he was imprisoned for seditious libel and expelled. While the legitimacy of his sentence was being debated, Middlesex attempted to re-elect him several times without success. Blackstone supported Parliament’s position. During the expulsion debate Blackstone was challenged by Grenville, who noted a discrepancy between his position and on floor and in the Commentaries. Unable to deliver a satisfactory rebuttal on the spot, he replied with anonymously published The Case of the Late Election. It initiated a lively pamphlet exchange that involved Samuel Johnson, Sir William Meredith and others. This pamphlet was attributed sometimes to Jeremiah Dyson [1722-1776], but Blackstone’s authorship is now confirmed. OCLC locates 21 copies. Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 231, which notes Ms. Eller had not seen a copy of this work. See illustration below.

19. [Blackstone, Sir William (1723-1780)]. The Pantheon: A Vision. London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1747. 32 pp. Half-title lacking. Quarto (7-3/4" x 9-1/2"). Recent period-style crimson morocco, frames and dentelles to edges of boards, inside dentelles, endpapers renewed. Later owner stamp to verso of title page and center of p. 17, interior otherwise clean and fresh. A beautifully bound copy of a scarce title.  $5,000.
* Only edition. This poem, a meditation on the world’s religions inspired by an encounter with the Pantheon in Rome, is Blackstone’s first published work. It was published anonymously; Blackstone’s authorship was recently established through a letter from Blackstone found in a copy that belonged to his family. As Taylor has pointed, Blackstone’s authorship was suggested in an essay in The Tatler, Number 257 (1709-11). OCLC locates 10 copies. W. Thomas Taylor, Catalogue 39 (1985) 8. Foxon, English Verse 1701-50 P45. See illustration below.

20. Blackstone, Sir William. Burn, Richard [1709-1785], Editor. Commentaries on the Laws of England, in Four Books. With the Last Corrections of the Author; And Continued to the Present Time. London: Printed by A. Strahan and W. Woodfall, 1783. Four volumes. Copperplate portrait frontispiece of Blackstone (Volume I), “Table of Consanguinity” and fold-out “Table of Descents” (Volume II). Octavo (5" x 8-1/4"). Contemporary speckled calf, gilt fillets and lettering pieces to spines. Light rubbing and some scuffing to boards, corners bumped and lightly worn, chip to head of Volume IV, joints rubbed, some starting, front board of Volume I partially detached but quite secure, vertical crease through center of spine of Volume II, hinges cracked or starting. Early armorial bookplate to each front pastedown. Offsetting to margins of endleaves, minor wear to top edge of fold-out table, interior otherwise fresh. Withal an attractive unsophisticated set.  $2,000.
* Ninth edition, the first edition published after Blackstone’s death, edited by Burn, an attorney and notable legal writer. Richard Burn’s Advertisement in vol. I, dated July 20, 1783, states: “The alterations...since the publication of the last edition, were made by the author himself, as may appear from a corrected copy in his own handwriting...The editor...[has noted] alterations made by subsequent acts of Parliament.” Concerning this edition, W.G. Hammond wrote in 1890, “Most of the current editions are printed from the ninth...published in 1783...edited by Ric. Burn.” OCLC locates 46 copies. Eller 14. See illustration below.

21. Blackstone, Sir William [1723-1780]. Christian, Edward [d. 1823], Editor. [Price, Richard (1790-1833), Editor]. Commentaries on the Laws of England. In Four Books. With the Lost Corrections of the Author: With Notes and Additions. Enlarged and Continued by the Editor of Warton’s History of English Poetry. London: Printed by Richard Taylor, 1830. Four volumes. Octavo (5-1/2" x 8-1/2"). Contemporary three-quarter calf over marbled boards. Moderate rubbing with some wear to extremities. Front board of Volume I partially detached but still quite secure, rear joint cracked, other joints just starting. Upper corner of title page clipped from Volume I, which also has occasional underlining and check marks in pencil. Very occasional light foxing, interiors otherwise fresh. An appealing set.  $1,250.
* Seventeenth edition. Paging irregular, following Blackstone’s paging in the margins. “This edition was apparently numbered from the Coleridge sixteenth edition published in 1825, although two London editions had been published in the interim.... Christian’s notes are from the fifteenth edition.... The two tables, listed in the index, are omitted” (Eller). OCLC locates 31 copies of this edition. Eller 37.

22. Blackstone, Sir William. Warren, Samuel [1807-1877], Editor. Blackstone’s Commentaries Systematically Abridged and Adapted to the Existing State of the Law and Constitution, With Great Additions. London: W. Maxwell, 1855. liv, [2], 834, [1] pp. Octavo (5" x 8"). Original textured cloth, blind frames to boards, gilt title to spine. Some shelfwear, chipping to head of spine, fading to head of front board, corners bumped, hinges cracked but secure. Thumb-tabs added in a few places, occasional annotations and underlining in pencil. Ex-library. Residue from shelf label to spine, inkstamp to title page. A solid copy of an uncommon title.  $200.
* First edition. Warren based this abridgment on an earlier work, Select Extracts from Blackstone’s Commentaries, which was first published in 1836. The 1855 work is substantially larger and contains more original material by Warren. (His contributions are enclosed in square brackets.) OCLC locates 23 copies of the edition. Eller 78.

23. [Boniface VIII (1235-1303)]. [D’Andrea, Giovanni [c.1270-1348], Glossator. Liber Sextus Decretalium D. Bonifacii Papae VIII. Clementis Papae V. Constitutiones Extravagantes tum Viginti D. Ionnis Papae XXII. Haec Omnia cum Suis Glossis Suae Integritati Restituta, & ad Examplar Romanum Diligenter Recognita. Lyon: [Guillaume Rouille] De Licentia D.N. Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max., 1584. [viii] pp., 870, 348, 364 cols., [22] pp. Folio (10" x 15-1/2"). Contemporary pigskin, blind and black-stamped frames enclosing the arms of Bohemian nobleman Peter Wok von Rosenberg [1539-1611], raised bands, black-stamped ornaments and early hand-lettered titles to spine, edges rouged. Recased, endpapers renewed. Spine darkened, light soiling and a few stains to boards, rubbing with some wear to corners and spine ends. Title page with large woodcut device printed in red and black, attractive full page woodcut illustration of Pope Boniface within historiated border depicting biblical figures and church fathers to verso of p. 4, woodcut head-pieces, tail-pieces and decorated initials. Tear to fore-edge of a leaf with no loss to text, minor wear to fore-edges of leaves at ends of text block. Occasional faint dampspotting or staining, interior otherwise fresh. Ex-library. Location number to foot of spine. An appealing copy of a rare imprint.  $2,000.
* With tables, indexes and decisions of the Rota Romana. The Liber Sextus Decretalium of Boniface VIII (1298) added updates and modifications to the body of canon law since the promulgation of the Liber Quinque Decretalium of Gregory IX (1234). This was followed by the Liber Septimus Decretalium of John XXII, better known as the “Constitutiones Clementis V” or simply “Clementinae” (1317), the final official collection. Two more texts were added later: the Extravagantes of John XXII (1325) and the Extravagantes Communes of other popes to 1484. The texts in this volume are drawn from the edition produced between 1580 and 1582 by the Correctores Romani, a commission established by the Council of Trent. It remained the only authenticated collection of material for the Western Church until the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law in 1917. D’Andrea was an Italian canonist and professor of canon law at the University of Bologna. An eminent figure who received the highest tributes from Arithemius, Baldus, Forster and Bellarmin, his principal writings circulated widely in manuscript and were among the earliest printed works on canon law. The gloss on the Liber Sextus was first published in 1472. KVK locates 10 copies of this imprint with two variations. One group has the following pagination: [xxx] pp., 808 cols., [4] pp., 320, 350 cols., [1] pp., fold-out table of consanguinity. The second group does not have a table and has 8 pp. of front matter and 23 pp. of rear matter. Our copy, which collates as a complete volume, is similar to the second group but has 100 more columns in the main texts and an index that is shorter by one page. Not in Adams, Brunet or Graesse. See illustration below and front cover.

24. Brice, Seward. A Treatise on the Doctrine of Ultra Vires: Being an Investigation of the Principles Which Limit the Capacities, Powers, and Liabilities of Corporations, And More Especially of Joint Stock Companies. Revised Throughout and Re-Written, Greatly Enlarged, And Containing the United States and Colonial Decisions. London: Stevens & Haynes, 1877. lxxx, 980, 48 pp. Includes 48-page publisher catalogue. Octavo (6" x 9"). Contemporary cloth, blind frames to boards, gilt title to spine. Light rubbing to boards, moderate wear to extremities, joints just starting at ends, hinges cracked but secure, internally clean. Ex-library. Location label to spine, small inkstamp to title page. A solid copy of an uncommon title.  $300.
* Second edition. “The doctrine which forms the subject of Mr. Brice’s elaborate and exhaustive work is a remarkable instance of rapid growth in modern Jurisprudence. Owing its rise, as it seems almost solely to the great Railway Mania of 1845, it is now prominent on both sides of the Atlantic... Mr. Seward Brice has done a great service to the cause of Comparative Jurisprudence by his new recension of what was from the first a unique text-book on the Law of Corporations. He has gone far towards effecting a Digest of that Law in its relation to the Doctrine of Ultra Vires, and the second edition of his most careful and comprehensive work may be commended with equal confidence to the English, the American, and the Colonial Practitioner, as well as to the Scientific Jurist.”: Law Magazine and Review, 5th Series, 2 (1876-77) 402.

25. Burlamaqui, J[ean] J[acques] [1697-1748]. The Principles of Natural Law. In Which the True Systems of Morality and Civil Government Are Established; And the Different Sentiments of Grotius, Hobbes, Puffendorf, Barbeyrac, Locke, Clark, and Hutchinson, Occasionally Considered. Translated Into English by Mr. Nugent. London: Printed for J. Nourse, 1748. [x], [xi]-xvi, [26], 312 pp. Octavo (5" x 8-1/4"). Recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, raised bands and lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed. Light foxing and soiling to title page and a few leaves, interior otherwise fresh. A handsome copy.  $2,000.
* First English edition. Burlamaqui, a Swiss jurist and professor of civil and natural law at Geneva, outlined a constitutional system based on principles similar to those of the American founding fathers. “Burlamaqui formulated the principles of popular sovereignty, of delegated power, of a constitution as a fundamental law, of a personal and functional separation of powers into three independent departments... and finally, he provided for an institutional guardian of the fundamental law” (Harvey). Burlamaqui’s other great achievement was to put Pufendorf’s theories into systematic form. Blackstone was among the many jurists influenced by this work. In 1847 Marvin stated a general opinion when he observed that “his works are deservedly held in high esteem.”: Legal Bibliography (1847) 162. OCLC locates 49 copies of this edition. Harvey, Jean Jacques Burlamaqui: A Liberal Tradition in American Constitutionalism 178-179. BMC 4:684. See illustration below.

26. Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell [1786-1845]. An Inquiry, Whether Crime and Misery are Produced or Prevented, By Our Present System of Prison Discipline. Illustrated by Descriptions of The Borough Compter, Tothill Fields Prison, The Jail at St. Albans, The Jail at Guildford, The Jail at Bristol, The Jails at Bury & Ilchester, The Maison de Force at Ghent, The Philadelphia Prison, The Penitentiary, Millbank, And the Proceedings of the Ladies’ Committee at Newgate. London: Printed for John and Arthur Arch, 1818. viii, 184 pp. 12mo. (4" x 6-1/2"). Recent period-style quarter calf over marbled baords, gilt fillets and lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed. Dampstaining to title page and a few other leaves, foxing, internally clean.  $300.
* Sixth (and final) edition. Buxton was an important English philanthropist and member of Parliament who lead efforts to alleviate poverty, abolish slavery and reform the prison system. Published in 1818 to immediate acclaim, his Inquiry went through five more editions that year and inspired the formation of the Prison Discipline Society. It was translated into French and Italian and disseminated widely throughout continental Europe. This edition not in the BMC.

27. [Code Napoleon]. Cotil, M., Editor. Le Conciliateur en Affaires ou Explication du Code Napoleon. Droit Civil, Commercial, Penal, Administratif, Explique et Mis a la Portee de Tout le Monde Conforme aux Dernieres Lois Decretees par sa Majeste l’Empereur Napoleon III Traitant de la Loi sur l’Exoneration du Service Militaire;- De Droits sur la Boissons;- Des Taxes des Notaires, Des Avoues, Huissiers, Gressiers, Temoins et Gardiens, Et Contenant. 1, Des Formules de Toute Espece d’Actes a l’Usage des Proprietaires, Agriculteurs, Entrepreneurs, Industriels, Commercants, Etc. 2, Un Vocabulaire de Tous les Termes de Droit. 3, Le Decret de 1809 et de Ordonnance Royal de 1825 sur les Fabriques des Eglises par M. Cotil. Edition Revue, Corigee et Augmentee. Paris: Dufet et Cie. Libraires-Editeurs, 1866. vi, 642 pp. Octavo (4-1/2" x 7"). Contemporary textured cloth, arms of Napoleon III to front and rear boards, rebacked in period style, gilt title to spine, hinges reinforced. Some wear to extremities of boards, a few minor stains. Clean tear to head of half-title. Toning, light foxing to a few leaves, faint dampstaining to margins in a few places, minor wear to fore-edges of final three index leaves, interior otherwise fresh. A handsome copy of a scarce title.  $350.
* Third (?) edition. According to the preface, this book aimed “to help everyone, rich and poor alike, to comprehend the law.” It is an excellent guide to the law as it applied to the everyday affairs of French citizens of the Third Republic, and it is supplemented by a dictionary, sample forms and tables of weights and measures. No copies on OCLC. KVK locates 1 copy of this edition and 3 copies of a second edition dated 1858. Not in Camus or the BMC.

28. [Connecticut]. Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, in America. [Seal of State Arms]. New London: Printed by Timothy Green, Printer to the Governor and State of Connecticut, 1784. Title, one leaf verso blank; Charter Granted by His Majesty King Charles the Second 3-8 pp.; Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States... (fourteen states at this date), [1]-6 pp.; Catalogue of the Acts in Alphabetical Order (2) pp. Laws, 1-265 pp., verso of last blank Title page laid down and clean tears to two leaves.

[With]

[Nine Compilations of Acts and Laws from the Second Thursday of May 1784 through the First Thursday of January 1789] New Haven: Thomas and Samuel Green, 1784-1789. 267-307, [1 blank], 309-315, [1 blank], 317-336, 337-346, 347-350, 351-354, 355-358, 359-366, 367-370, 371-378 pp. Folio (7" x 11-3/4"). Contemporary calf, rebacked, raised bands forming six compartments. Expertly repaired with moderate wear to boards. Occasional minor tears, light foxing and browning, interior otherwise fresh. A desirable copy.  $1,500.
* This fascinating collection addresses a variety of topics, such as adultery, bail, burglary, cattle, children, counterfeiting, debtors, divorce, dogs, dowry, dueling, drunkenness, election, equity, executions, felonies, fornication, frauds and perjuries, fraudulent conveyances, gaming, horse racing, Indians, insolvent estates, jurors, lotteries, marriage, maritime affairs, murder, oaths, poor laws, rape, rogues, rum, the Sabbath, sheep, slaves, taverns, tobacco, treason, usury and vice. According to Bates, the Connecticut seal on the title page indicates that this is the second issue of this work. Bates, Connecticut Statute Laws 250. The Charlemagne Tower Collection of American Colonial Laws 84. Benedict, Acts and Laws of the Original Thirteen Colonies and States 50-54 (seven titles not in Benedict). See illustration below.

29. Cooper, Thomas, Editor [1759-1839]. Tracts on Medical Jurisprudence: Including [Samuel] Farr’s Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, [William] Dease’s Remarks on Medical Jurisprudence, [G.E.] Male’s Epitome of Juridical or Forensic Medicine, and [John] Haslam’s Treatise on Insanity. With a Preface, Notes, and a Digest of the Law Relating to Insanity and Nuisance. To Which is Added an Appendix, Containing Erskine’s Speech for James Hadfield, Indicted for Shooting at the King; An Abstract of a Report of the Trial of Abraham Kessler, Indicted for Poisoning his Wife With White Arsenic, and Laudanum, and a Memoir on the Chromat of Pot-Ash, as a Test for Detecting Arsenic, Copper, and Corrosive Sublimate, by Thomas Cooper, Esq., Read Before the Am[erican] Ph[ilosophical] Society, Sep. 18, 1818. Philadelphia: Published by James Webster, 1819. [xvi], 456, [1] pp. Octavo (5-1/4" x 8-1/2"). Contemporary sheep treated to look like tree calf, rebacked in period style retaining original lettering piece, hinges repaired. negligible dampspotting in a few places, interior otherwise fresh. A nice copy.  $950.
* First edition of the first work on forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence published in the United States. The most extensive work of its kind then available in America, it includes the first domestic printing of Haslam’s landmark Treatise on Insanity (1817). Other topics treated at length include rape, abortion and poisoning. Cooper, a chemist and lawyer by training, was a polymath who published books on law, political science, economics, medicine and the natural sciences. A friend of Joseph Priestley and Thomas Jefferson, he was a professor of chemistry at Dickinson College and the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the faculty of South Carolina College in 1819 and became its president in 1820. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 8761.

30. Creighton College of Law. Tilson, John Quillan, Editor. The Creighton Brief. Volume I. Omaha: [Burkley Printing Company], April, 10, 1909. 142 pp. Plates. 10 pages of advertisements. Octavo (6" x 9"). Original cloth, gilt title and white-stamped vignette to front board, some rubbing to extremities with light wear to spine ends and corners. Crack between title page and following leaf, internally clean. Ex-library. Bookplate to front pastedown, small stamps to title page.  $125.
* Opened in 1904, Creighton is a Jesuit law school that originally served lower income students. It offered both a regular three-year course and a four-year night course. In 1909 the first-year class included one African-American student, Noah H. Ware of Selma, Alabama. The back of the yearbook features a humor page with two photos. One, titled “Between Lectures: All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy,” shows students playing dice in a lecture hall. The other is a photo of Ware with the caption: “The Alabama Club-Most Exclusive Organization in the College.” More than a memento, this book offers a fascinating portrait of Creighton law school during its formative years.

31. Darrow, Clarence [1857-1938]. Farmington. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1925. vi, [7]-255 pp. Original cloth very good in worn publisher dust wrapper. Author inscription and small later owner embossed stamp to front free endpaper, later owner bookplate to front pastedown.  $1,250.
* First edition. The inscription reads: “To Mr & Mrs Burges Johnson/ As a testimonial to their/ good cheer and good [illegible]/ with the best wishes of/ Clarence Darrow/ Dec 2, 1927.” First published in 1904, Farmington is a fictionalized account of the author’s youth in Ohio. Though it went through seven editions, it was never a critical or commercial success. This pained Darrow because he thought it was his finest book. Burges and Constance Johnson were notable authors. Burges was humorist and author of light verse. Also a scholar and teacher, he published a learned study of profanity. A sociologist and published scholar, Constance also wrote humorous verse, essays and occasional pieces. Hunsberger, Clarence Darrow: A Bibliography 176.