 |
The Most Lavish
Edition of The Comic
Blackstone
3. A’Beckett, Gilbert Abbott
[1811-1856]. A’Beckett, Arthur William [1844-1909], Editor.
The Comic Blackstone. London: Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., 1887.
xxviii, 324 pp. Complete set of parts, as issued. Ten full-page
color lithograph plates, numerous engravings. Octavo (5-1/2" x
8-1/2"). Contemporary gilt-edged three-quarter morocco over cloth,
gilt-edged raised bands to spine. Front covers from original
wrappers bound at rear of text. Skillfully rebacked, rubbing to
extremities with light wear, a few small scuffs, hinges reinforced.
Offsetting to margins of endleaves, small chip to fore-edge of front
free endpaper. Occasional light toning, interior otherwise fresh. A
very handsome copy. $450.
* “New
and revised” edition of this classic parody by the author’s son.
With its color plates and text illustrations by Harry Furniss it is
also the most lavish edition ever published. This copy also has an
unusually elaborate binding. What is more, the binder preserved the
front covers of the original illustrated full-color wrappers from
the original parts and bound them at the rear of the text block.
Eller, The William Blackstone Collection at
Yale Law School
196.  
Ambler’s Chancery Reports
4. Ambler, Charles [d. 1794],
Reporter. Reports
of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, With
Some Few in Other Courts. London: Printed by A. Strahan and W.
Woodfall, 1790. vii, [10], [3]-783, [28] pp. Folio (8-1/4" x
12-1/2"). Later quarter calf over cloth, lettering piece to spine,
hinges reinforced, endpapers renewed. Light rubbing to boards and
extremities, a few small ink spots to spine. Early owner signature
to head of title page. Browning to half-title, interior otherwise
fresh. Ex-law library. Stamp to half title. A handsome copy of an
uncommon title. $150.
* First
edition. Ambler reports cases from 1737 to 1783. Reprinted in Dublin
in 1790, a second edition was published in 1828. Wallace says Ambler
is the principal source of cases by Lord Camden, “the most
respectable by far of the Whig Chancellors, and indeed a very
interesting character.” OCLC locates 20 copies of this edition.
Wallace, The Reporters 513-514.
Collected Cardozo Memorial
Lectures, 1941-1970
5. Association of the Bar of the
City of New York.
The Benjamin N. Cardozo Memorial Lectures Delivered Before The
Association of the Bar of the City of New York 1941-1970. 100th
Anniversary Edition.
New York: Matthew Bender, [1970]. Two volumes. Cloth. Near fine.
$95.
*
Contents include lectures by Lon L. Fuller, Felix Frankfurter,
William O. Douglas, Arthur Goodhart, Earl Warren and other eminent
jurists.
6. Beresteyn, E.A. van.
Iconographie van Hugo Grotius. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,
1929. 136 pp. 65 plates. Softbound, light shelfwear, most signatures
unopened. Light foxing in a few places, internally clean. $65.
* This
copy is from the library of Edward Dumbauld [1905-1997], an
attorney, judge, legal historian and author of important studies of
Thomas Jefferson and Hugo Grotius.
7. B[lack], W[illiam].
The Privileges of the Royal Burrows as Contained in Their
Particular Rights, And the Ancient Laws and Records of Parliament,
And Their General Conventions; Wherein is Considered the Privileges
of Merchants, Privileges of Burghs, The Privileges of the Guld, The
Privileges of the Four Burghs in Assisting the Chamberlan Air in
Falsing Dooms, The First Constitution of the Convention, The Laws by
Which They Enjoy Their Privileges, The Acts of Their Own Convention
Which Confirm Their Privileges Granted by Their Kings and
Parliament, The Jurisdiction and How Far It is the Interest of the
Royal Burrows Now to Observe and Maintain Their Privileges, By
Making Such Regulations as May Tend to the Advantage of Their
Trading Society. With an Appendix Containing the Privileges and
Jurisdictions of the Cities of
Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Edinburgh: Printed by the Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson,
1707. [viii], 172, [43] pp. Octavo (4" x 6-1/2"). Recent
period-style calf, blind double rules to boards, raised bands to
spine. Toning to text, light foxing in places. Early owner
annotations to front free endpaper and final text leaf, early owner
signature near head of title page. A handsomely bound copy of a
scarce title. $850.
* Only
edition. One of two early works on the Scottish gild merchant and
its royal burghs, which was much more powerful than its English
counterparts and quite influential into the twentieth century. This
book has a great deal of information about gild courts and the
regulation of international commerce.
OCLC locates 10 copies. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography
of the
British
Commonwealth
5:13.
Handsome
Blackstone Edition
of the Magna Carta
8. Blackstone, Sir William
[1723-1780]. The
Great Charter and Charter of the
Forest, With Other Authentic
Instruments: To Which is Prefixed an Introductory Discourse,
Containing the History of the Charters.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1759.
[iv], lxxvi, [iv], 86 pp. Half title and table of contents (Tabula)
bound between pages lxxvi and 1. Folio (10-1/2" x 13-1/2"). Richly
gilt panelled calf with elaborate dentelle tooling, inside
dentelles, richly gilt spine with raised bands and lettering pieces,
marbled endpapers, rebacked retaining original spine, hinges
repaired, all edges gilt. Some rubbing to extremities with wear to
spine ends and corners. Printed on heavy wide-margined paper with
engraved dedication leaf, decorated initials and tail-pieces. Later
bookplate of Henry Walters to front pastedown, tipped-in small early
auction catalogue description and pencil inscription reading "From
Mrs. Henry Walters Collection/ N.Y. May 21-23, 1941 to verso of
front free endpaper, early letter from Dr. Trails to Dr. Thomson
offering this book as a gift tipped in to following endleaf. Light
foxing to a few leaves, occasional offsetting from engravings,
interior otherwise fresh. A very handsome copy. $5,000.
* First edition. Texts of documents in Latin, Blackstone's essay in English. The engraved dedication to the Earl of Westmoreland is surmounted with his armorial ensigns; initials in the text are ornamented with engravings of various buildings at Oxford University. The tail pieces on pages lxxvi and 73 are historical vignettes; the other ten tail-pieces are facsimiles of the royal seals that are attached to the original documents. This remarkable work is esteemed for its production and scholarship. Its physical appeal was recognized as early as 1829 in Richard Thompson's An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John, which described it as a "beautiful and rare edition." Blackstone's essay, which is based on a great deal of original research, argued that the charter was the foundation of English liberties. This idea, first proposed by Coke, was a central tenet of Whig ideology. More important, Blackstone's research into the original texts demonstrated that all earlier editions of the charter were based on Henry III's significantly different reissue of 1225 rather than the original one endorsed at Runnymede. His philological approach was highly influential; it established the textual focus that has governed subsequent study of the charter. Scarce. (Eller notes that Worrall's Bibliotheca Legum Angliae (1788) lists an edition from 1758 with the title Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta. She was not able to locate any copies, however. Later research indicates that this edition is a ghost.) Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 237. See illustration below.
Massachusetts District Court Upholds the
Constitutionality of the Non-Importation
and Embargo Acts
9. Blake, Francis [1774-1817]. An Examination of the Constitutionality of the Embargo Laws: Comprising a View of the Arguments on That Question Before the Honorable John Davis, Esquire, Judge of the District Court, For Massachusetts, In the Case of the United States vs. Brigantine William, Tried and Determined, at Salem (Mass.) September Term, 1808. To Which is Added, the Opinion Pronounced by the Court, On the Constitutional Question, Arising in the Trial of the Case. Worcester: Goulding and Stow, 1808. vi, [7]-61 pp. Octavo (5" x 7-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound into recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, gilt title to spine, endpapers renewed. Light toning, bottom edge closely trimmed with some loss to text of one leaf. Early owner signatures to head of title page, interior otherwise clean. An attractively bound copy of a scarce title. $450.
* Only edition. Enacted to protest the harassment of American shipping by the warring British and French, The Non-Importation and Embargo Acts of 1806 and 1807 imposed a severe burden on New England’s maritime economy. This trial tested the constitutionality of those acts. Story, then a Jeffersonian, represented the United States. The decision of the case, reported at 28 Federal Cases (D.C., D. Mass. 1808), upheld the act’s constitutionality. OCLC locates 19 copies. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 11226.
Convicting the Innocent
10. Borchard, Edwin M. [1884-1951]. Convicting the Innocent: Errors of Criminal Justice. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1932. xxix, 421 pp. Cloth very good in moderately worn dust jacket. $150.
* First edition. A collection of sixty-five cases of erroneous criminal convictions of innocent people, the causes of error being due in the main to mistaken identification, circumstantial evidence, perjury, or some combination of these. “We congratulate the author on the final appearance of a book which will do much to
promote the reform that he has so long advocated with such
devotion.”: John Henry Wigmore, Journal of the American Institute
of Criminal Law and Criminology 23 (1932-33) 321. See
illustration below
The Apple Law!
11. [Broadside]. Bannan, Thomas R. The Apple Law! [N.p.]: Bannan & Ramsey Printers, August 7, 1872. 9-1/4" x 12" broadside. Toned, faint vertical fold line through center, small faint stain near top edge, negligible wear to edges. Item housed in mylar sleeve affixed to foam-core illustration board. A curious item. $300.
* The headline reads: "The Apple Law!" The text reads: "Any person or persons who shall willfully enter or break down through or over any orchard, garden or yard fence, hot bed or greenhouse; or who shall willfully trespass upon, walk over, beat down, trample or in anywise injure any grain, grass, vines, vegetables, or other growing crop, shall and may on conviction thereof before any alderman, or justice of the peace, or in any Court of Law have judgment against him, her or them, in a sum of not less than $5, nor more than $100, with costs of suit, and in default of payment the party convicted may and shall be committed to the jail of said County, for not less than 20 nor more than 60 days. Ten Dollars reward will be given to any person giving information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons trespassing upon these grounds." See illustration below.
First Edition of One of the Great
Treatises on Natural Law
12. Burlamaqui, J[ean] J[acques] [1697-1748]. Principes du Droit Naturel. Geneva: Chez Barrillot & Fils, 1747. [v], vi-xxiv, 1], 2-352 pp. Two parts in one volume with continuous pagination. Second part has title vignette. Quarto (7-1/2" x 9-1/2"). Contemporary speckled boards, later hand-lettered spine label, speckled edges. Light rubbing to extremities with minor wear, corners bumped, front free endpaper lacking. Attractive [woodcut printer device to title page, woodcut tail-pieces. Toning, foxing and finger smudges in a few places, interior otherwise fresh. An appealing copy. $2,500.
* First
edition, one of two issued in 1747. (This has the following points:
the last line on p. 7 begins “passions deréglees”; the first line on
p. 223 begins “prejudice des autres.”) 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. Harvey, Jean
Jacques Burlamaqui: A Liberal Tradition in American Constitutionalism 178-179.
British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) [BMC] 4:684.
See illustration
below.
First and Only
American Abridgment Before 1776
13. Burn, Richard
[1709-1785]. Greenleaf, Joseph [1720-1810], Editor.
An Abridgment of Burn’s Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer.
To Which is Added, An Appendix, Containing Some General Rules and
Directions Necessary to be Known and Observed by All Justices of the
Peace. Boston: Printed for, and sold by, Joseph Greenleaf, 1773.
[viii], 386, [2] pp. Includes two-page publisher advertisement.
Quarto (7" x 8-1/2"). Contemporary sheep, blind fillets to boards,
raised bands and lettering piece to spine. A few tiny inkstains and
small scuffs to boards, small chip to head of spine, corners bumped
and lightly worn, hinges cracked. Toning to text, offsetting to
margins of preliminaries and final few leaves, offsetting from
pressed flowers to a few text leaves. Early owner annotation to
front pastedown, early owner signatures (of John Frothingham and
Francis A. Perly) to front free endpaper, interior otherwise clean.
An appealing unsophisticated copy of an uncommon work. $2,500.
* First
and only American edition and the first and only abridgement of a
legal treatise printed in America before the revolution. Richard
Burn was an attorney and antiquarian who edited the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh editions of Blackstone’s Commentaries. His
Justice of the Peace, and Parish Officer (1755) was perhaps his
most important work. Holdsworth considered it to be one of the best
treatments of the subject, an opinion shared by Burn’s
contemporaries, both in England and in the colonies. The “best proof
that his book...was accepted as the leading text-book on that topic
is the number of editions through which it passed.... It deserved
its success. Burn carefully abridged the statutes, and stated the
manner in which their clauses had been interpreted by the courts.
His treatment of the criminal law was based upon a thorough study of
the works of Coke, Hale, and Hawkins.” Greenleaf explains the nature
of his abridgement in the preface: “The London edition takes in the
whole practice of England and Scotland, this renders it both bulky
and dear. The circle of a justices business in those places is
vastly extensive, and is founded chiefly on acts of the British
parliament, which can never have any relation to this colony” [i].
Greenleaf also added an appendix of forms and general rules and
directions for American courts. Holdsworth, A History of English
Law XII:332-333. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law
8325. See illustration below.
First Post-Revolutionary
Edition of
Important JP Manual
14. Burn, Richard [1709-1785].
[Ladd, Eliphalet (1769-1802), Editor].
Burn’s Abridgment, or the American Justice; Containing the Whole
Practice, Authority and Duty of Justices of the Peace; With Correct
Forms of Precedents Relating Thereto, and Adapted to the Present
Situation of the United States. Dover (New-Hampshire): Printed
for Eliphalet Ladd, 1792. viii, 484 (i.e. 454), [1] pp. Octavo
(4-3/4" x 7"). Recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, gilt
fillets and original lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed.
Light toning, and minor tears to a few leaves, interior otherwise
fresh. $550.
*Second
edition, the first issued after the American Revolution. Despite its
designation, it is actually an exact reprint of the first Ladd
edition with a new title page. It covers civil as well as criminal
topics such as arrest, bastards, bribery, conspiracy, escape,
execution, extortion, felony, homicide, indictment, libel,
“lunaticks,” nuisance, oaths, rape, search warrants, slander,
treason, wife and woman. A 45-page appendix of forms
follows the main text. OCLC locates 34 copies of this edition.
Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 8326. See illustration below.
Burrill on Voluntary
Assignments
15. Burrill, Alexander M.
[1807-1869]. A
Treatise on the Law and Practice of Voluntary Assignments for the
Benefit of Creditors; With an Appendix of Forms. New York: John
S. Voorhies, 1858. [iii], iv-xxviii, 689, [3] pp. Octavo (6" x
9-1/2"). Contemporary sheep, blind frames to boards, raised bands
and lettering piece to spine. Moderate rubbing with some wear to
extremities, chipping to head of spine, a few scuffs to boards.
Toning, light foxing in a few places. Early owner signatures to
front pastedown, interior otherwise fresh. $250.
* Second
edition. With forms. Burrill’s goal was to produce a treatise on the
subject with a “distinctively American character” (v). A student of
James Kent, Burrill was highly regarded for his legal scholarship.
Best known for his New Law Dictionary and Glossary (1850-51),
his other works were distinguished by their scholarship and graceful
style. The first edition of Voluntary Assignments was
published in 1853, its sixth and final edition in 1894. Cohen 2576.
Burrill on Circumstantial
Evidence
16. Burrill, Alexander M.
A Treatise on the Nature, Principles and Rules of Circumstantial
Evidence, Especially that of the Presumptive Kind, In Criminal
Cases. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co., 1868. xxi, 796 pp. Octavo
(6" x 9"). Contemporary sheep, blind frames to boards, raised bands
and lettering piece to spine. Some rubbing with wear to extremities,
light rubbing to boards, front hinge cracked but secure. Offsetting
to margins of endleaves, underlining in pencil to a few places,
interior otherwise fresh. Ex-library. Institution label to spine,
bookplate to front pastedown, stamps to endleaves and top edge. A
solid copy. $250.
* Final
issue. A student of James Kent, Burrill was highly regarded for his legal scholarship. Best
known for his New Law Dictionary and Glossary
(1850-51), his other works were distinguished by their scholarship
and graceful style. According to the Dictionary of American
Biography, his treatise on circumstantial evidence addresses a “very
technical branch of the law in a scientific spirit alien to previous
treatise on the subject” (II:325). First published in 1856, this
treatise was reissued in 1859 and 1868. Catalogue of the Library
of the Harvard Law
School (1909) [HLC]
I:280.
An Influential English
Critique of Prisons
17. 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, 146, [2] pp. Includes two-page publisher list. 12mo.
(4-1/2" x 7-1/2"). Contemporary paper-covered boards with
contrasting spine with title label, untrimmed edges. Scuffs to front
board, moderate wear to extremities, front board just beginning to
separate from spine but secure. Negligible faint dampstaining to
some leaves, interior otherwise fresh. A solid copy. $300.
* Third
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.
First Edition of a Classic of
International Law
18. Bynkershoek, Cornelius van
[1673-1743].
Quaestionum Juris Publici, Libri Duo, Quorum Primus Est de Rebus
Bellicis, Secundus de Rebus Varii Argumenti. Leiden: J.V.
Kerckhem, 1737. [xxiv], 384, [31] pp. Quarto (6" x 7-3/4").
Contemporary vellum, gilt and hand-colored title panel to spine,
speckled edges. Light soiling and a few minor stains, minor wear to
corners, front joint just starting at head. Title page with
attractive copperplate allegorical vignette printed in red and
black, woodcut head-pieces tail-pieces and decorated initials. A few
tiny inkspots to front free endpaper. Light toning to text, light
browning to outer margins of some leaves, negligible faint foxing to
portions of text. An appealing copy. $750.
* First
edition. One of the most important jurists and international lawyers
of his time, Bynkershoek was a Dutch jurist who founded the positive
school of international law, which held that usage and practice were
more important than deductions drawn from natural law. He was also
the first to propose the “three-mile limit” rule, which states that
a nation may claim sovereignty over territorial waters to a distance
of three miles from shore. Respected during his lifetime, his works
are still consulted today. He wrote several important treatises on
international law, including De Dominio Maris (1702), De
Foro Legatorum (1720) and the present work, which considers
questions dealing with international law. “De Rebus Bellicus,” its
most important chapter, addresses the customs of war on land and on
sea. Notably humane, it condemns actions against civilians and
advocates the fair treatment of prisoners of war. Beginning with
Lord Mansfield, scholars have considered this to be Bynkershoek’s
greatest work. It was reissued in 1930 as a title in the Carnegie
Classics of International Law series. Walker,
Oxford Companion
to Law
163. Dekkers, Bibliotheca Belgica Juridica 16. See illustration below.
1872 Law Publisher’s
Catalogue
19. [Bookseller’s Catalogue].
Campbell, John, and Son.
A Catalogue of Law Books. Philadelphia: John Campbell & Son,
1872. 188 pp. Gilt stamped cloth, soiled and rubbed. Paper label.
Shaken. Pencil markings on front inside cover. Ex-library stamp on
title page elsewhere. Good. $150.
*
Alphabetical catalogues of law books sold by John Campbell includes
list of American and English law reports as well as those books
published by Campbell.
Well-Preserved First Edition
of Cardozo’s
Paradoxes
of Legal Science
20. Cardozo, Benjamin
[1870-1938]. The
Paradoxes of Legal Science. New York: Columbia University Press,
1928. v, 142 pp. Original cloth, negligible shelfwear. Early owner
signature to front pastedown, interior otherwise clean. A
well-preserved copy. $150.
* First
edition. In this important work Cardozo examines the nature of the
relationship between justice and law. “His many references in these
lectures to Greek philosophy show how great a part his early
classical training played in the formation of his ideas; in relating
his general principles to the concrete cases which, in his words, he
used as a kind of legal litmus
paper, he was a true Aristotelian.”: Goodhart, Five Jewish
Lawyers of the Common Law 59-60.
Genoese Edition of the
Consolato del Mare
21. Casaregi, Giuseppe Lorenzo
Maria de [1675-1737], Editor and Annotator. Broegh, F., Annotations.
Il Consolato del Mare, Colla Spiegazione di Giuseppe Maria
Casaregi: In Questa Nuova Impressione, Ricorretto da Molti Errori
dell’ ed. di Firenze, ed Accresciuto Ciascheduno Capitolo d’Alcune
Annotazioni del Medesimo Autore, ed Inoltre i Consolati di
Barcellona, Venezia, e Genova. All’ Illustrissimo Signore Federico
Broegh. Lucca: Per S.D. Cappuri e A.M. Santini, a Spese di
Donato Donati, 1720. [xxiv], 485, [38] pp. Quarto (6" x 9").
Contemporary vellum. Some rubbing to extremities with minor wear to
spine ends and corners, small chip to rear joint, a few minor worm
holes to front board, minor worming to pastedowns, a few negligible
worm-holes through portions of text block, hinges starting, front
free endpaper partially detached. Attractive head-pieces,
tail-pieces and decorated initials. Faint dampstaining and light
browning to portions of text, internally clean. A solid copy of a
scarce imprint. $2,500.
* Second
edition by Casaregi. With a collection of related Genoese
legislation. A landmark in the development of maritime law, the
Consolato del Mare was first published in Barcelona in 1484. A
digest of the law and practice commonly followed by the commercial
judges in the chief ports around the Mediterranean Sea, it became
the maritime common law of the Mediterranean and a foundation for
subsequent European maritime laws and customs. It circulation was
widest in Italy, especially among the Venetians, but it was also
influential in Western Europe. In addition to maritime law, it
contains a great deal of information about the day-to-day operations
of a ship and practical advice on seafaring. This edition appeared
at a time when Genoa was an active maritime power. The text of the
Consolato is printed in italics. The notes, which alternate
with the text, are printed in Roman type under the heading
Spiegazione [explanation]. First published in 1718, Casaregi’s
edition was reissued several times into the nineteenth century. KVK
and OCLC locate 5 copies of the 1720 issue. Goldsmiths’-Kress
Library of Economic Literature 5711.5. See illustration below.
Essays on Legal Ethics in the
Form of Dialogues
22. [Charley, Sir William Thomas
(1833-1904)]. The
Legal Profession: Viewed in the Light of Its Past History, Its
Present State, And
Projected Law Reforms.
London: William Ridgway, 1873.
viii, 351 pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 8-1/2"). Original textured cloth,
blind frames to boards, gilt title to spine. Light rubbing to
extremities, corners bumped, internally clean. Ex-law library
(Birmingham Law Society). Institution name to spine and front board,
its insignia to rear, bookplate to front pastedown, small inkstamps
to endleaves and some text leaves. A nice copy of an uncommon title.
$350.
* Only
edition. One of the first English books dealing exclusively with
lawyering and legal ethics, it is cast in the form of dramatic
dialogues. The author is serious, but his tone is light. Some
examples: “The Wrongs of Attorneys,” “Touting,” “Fees,”
“Amalgamation,” “No Taxation Without Representation” and “A Gloomy
Prospect.” OCLC locates 24 copies. Sweet & Maxwell 2:61.
Clerk’s Manual With Plates
Depicting Court and Chancery Hands
23. [Cocker, Edward
(1631-1675)]. The
Young Clerk’s Tutor Enlarged: Being a Most Useful Collection of the
Best Precedents of Recognizances, Obligations, Conditions,
Acquittances, Bills of Sale, Warrants of Attorney, &c. Also Names of
Men & Women in Latin, Day and Date, The Several Sums of Money, And
Addition of Several Trades, In Their Proper Cases, As They Stand in
the Obligations. With Directions of Writs of Habeas Corpus,
Certiorari, Writs of Errors, &c. to
All Cities and Towns Corporate,
Hundred and Manor Courts. Likewise the Best Precedents of All Manner
of Concords of Fines, And Directions How to Sue Out a Fine, With
Many Judicious Observations Therein. With Many Other Things Very
Necessary, And Readily Fitting Every Man’s Occasion: As by a New and
Exact Table of What is Contained in This Book, Will Appear. To Which
are Annexed Several of the Best Copies Both of Court and Chancery
Hand Now Extant, By Tho. Ollyff, Writing Master, At the Hand and Pen
in Fetter-Lane.
Purged From the Errors of All Former Impressions. [London]: Printed
by Eliz. Nutt and R. Gosling, 1717. [xvi], 206, [1] pp. Includes
one-page publisher list. Four plates. Octavo (4" x 6"). Recent
period-style quarter calf over marbled boards, raised bands and
lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed. Negligible light
shelfwear. Some wear to edges of preliminaries and final three
leaves, traces of early cellotape repair in gutter between
half-title and title page. Toning to text, occasional faint
dampstaining. Occasional annotations in early hand to preliminaries,
endleaves and three text leaves. An attractively bound copy of a
scarce edition. $750.
*
Sixteenth edition. With four plates depicting court and chancery
hands. This popular guide was first published in 1660. It went
through several editions and revisions. Cocker was best known for
his writing manuals and arithmetical works. Pepys mentions him
several times in diary entries for 1664. OCLC locates 7 copies of
this edition. Dictionary of National Biography IV:650. Sweet
& Maxwell 1:480 (14). See illustration below.
A Lovely Set of Coke’s
Reports
24. Coke, Sir Edward
[1552-1643]. George Wilson, Editor and Translator.
The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Knt. in English, In Thirteen
Parts Complete; With References to All the Ancient and Modern Books
of the Law; Exactly Translated and Compared with the First and Last
Edition in French, and Printed Page for Page With the Same. To Which
Are Now Added the Respective Pleadings, In English. The Whole Newly
Revised and Carefully Corrected and Translated with Many Additional
Notes and References. Dublin: Printed for J. Moore, 1793. Seven
volumes. Octavo (5" x 8"). Contemporary calf, blind fillets to
boards, blind fillets, volume numbers and lettering pieces to
spines. Light rubbing to extremities with minor wear, minor scuffs
to boards, tiny chips to a few spine ends. Owner signatures (of W.
Spott, Tumbridge Wells) to front pastedowns of Volumes 1 and 2,
interiors notably fresh. A lovely, well-preserved set. $2,500.
* Reprint
of the London edition, 1776-77. Each volume has general title-page,
and each part has special title-page. Prefaces in Latin and English
in parallel columns. First published at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, Coke’s Reports are not reports in the
conventional sense but highly detailed anthologies of precedents
organized according to the cases they consider. In each instance
Coke assembled a large body of cases, outlined their arguments, and
explained the reasons for the judgment, using it as a basis for a
statement of general principles. Taken together, The Reports
form the most extensive and detailed treatment of Common Law
pleading that had yet appeared. A work of immense authority, it was
often cited as The Reports, there being no need to mention
the author’s name. His accounts, especially of pleadings, were
applauded for both their clarity and usefulness as stylistic models
for students. And his selection of cases, cited frequently in
subsequent years, has served as the starting point for numerous
decisions. The first edition in English, which did not include
pleadings, was published in 1658. Sweet & Maxwell 1:296. See illustration below.
Bibliography of Books Owned
by Sir Edward Coke
25. [Coke, Sir Edward]. Hassall,
W.O., Editor. A
Catalogue of the Library of Sir Edward Coke.
With a Preface by Samuel E. Thorne. [New Haven]: Yale University
Press, 1950. xxvii, 98 pp. Errata slip tipped in after preface.
Softbound, moderate shelfwear and light soiling, binding slightly
cocked, internally clean. $150.
* This is
a modern edition of the catalogue of Sir Edward Coke’s library
compiled by Coke himself. Though not complete, it reveals the range
of Coke’s legal sources and includes many non-legal books he
considered “handmaides to the knowledge of lawes.” Marke, A
Catalogue of the Law Collection at
New York
University
(1953) 1209.
First American
Edition of Coke Upon Littleton
26. Coke, Sir
Edward. [1552-1634]. Day, Thomas, Editor.
The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of
England; Or, a
Commentary upon Littleton: Not the Name of the Author Only, But of
the Law Itself. Revised and Corrected, With Additions of Notes,
References, and Proper Tables by Francis Hargrave and Charles
Butler, Including Also the Notes of Lord Chief Justice Hale and Lord
Chancellor Nottingham: And an Analysis of Littleton, Written by an
Unknown Hand, 1658-1659. To Which Are Now Added, Considerable
Improvements.
Philadelphia: Published by Johnson and Warner, and Samuel R. Fisher,
1812. Three volumes. Octavo (5-1/2" x 9"). Contemporary calf, blind
fillets to boards, blind rules and lettering pieces to spine.
Lightly rubbed and scuffed, hinges of Volume 1 and front hinge of
Volume 2, cracked but secure. Early annotation to front pastedown of
Volume 1. Offsetting to margins of endleaves, occasional foxing,
interiors otherwise fresh. A well-preserved set. $750.
*
First American edition, from the sixteenth London edition, 1809.
Text is unpaged with English and French (or Latin) texts in parallel
columns. Generally considered the most important of the four
Institutes, this was the only one published during Coke’s
lifetime. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British
Commonwealth of Nations
I:451(7). Shaw and Shoemaker, American Bibliography 25106.
Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 9451.
|
|
