The Office of Bailiff of a Liberty, Only Edition, London, 1809.
Scarce English Treatise on Bailiffs in a Handsome Riviere Binding Ritson, J[oseph] [1752-1803]. [Frank, Joseph, Editor]. The Office of Bailiff of a Liberty. London: Printed by A. Strahan, 1811. [xv], 80 pp. Octavo (9" x 5-1/2"). Later nineteenth-century straight-grain morocco signed binding by Riviere & Son, gilt frames to boards, gilt spine with raised bands, gilt rules to board edges, gilt inside dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Negligible light rubbing and a few minor nicks to extremities, armorial bookplate of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, to front pastedown. Moderate toning to text, light foxing to a few leaves. A very handsome copy. $750. * First edition. Ritson, a former bailiff, was a member of Gray's Inn and the author of several practical and historical works on legal subjects. Holdsworth says his study of bailiffs of a liberty, that is, a court officer who executes process, is a "learned antiquarian tract based mainly on the Year Books and mediaeval statutes, with notes of such later statutes as referred to these bailiffs." Crichton-Smith [1847-1900], an extremely wealthy member of the landed gentry who made an additional fortune as an industrialist, was a notable antiquarian, scholar, bibliophile, philanthropist and architectural patron. Holdsworth, History of English Law XII:337. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:236.
Price: $750.00
Book number 72391