A New Abridgment of the Law..., 5 Volumes. London, 1768-1770
A Complete Set of Bacon's Abridgment Bacon, Matthew [fl. 1730]. [Gilbert, Sir Jeffrey (1674-1726)]. [Sayer, Joseph (fl. 1750)]. [Ruffhead, Owen (1723-1769)]. A New Abridgment of the Law. Corrected; With Many Additional Notes and References. London: Printed by His Majesty's Law Printers, 1768-1770. Five volumes. Complete set. Folio (13-1/2" x 9). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets along joints, raised bands, lettering pieces and small fragments of paper shelf labels to spines. Worn, boards detached, early owner bookplate of Dudley Atkins Tyng, later bookplate of John H. Phelps and recent library bookplate to front pastedowns. Moderate toning to interiors, light foxing in places, early and later markings to a few leaves in each volume. A good candidate for rebinding. $1,500. * Third edition. Bacon's Abridgment is a digest of cases and treatises written by Sir Jeffrey Gilbert. In frequent use by practitioners in Great Britain and the United States into the early nineteenth century, it went through several editions. Its comprehensiveness and, still more, the logical system of subdivisions employed within each title, were a significant improvement over previous compendia of its kind. This made it, according to Marvin's Legal Bibliography, "quite a law library in itself" (85). The Abridgment was compiled and edited by Bacon. However, he died after he completed the entry for "Sheriff" and the rest of the work was produced by editors Sayer and Ruffhead. Tyng [1760-1829], a Newburyport, Massachusetts, lawyer, was, for most of his professional life, the reporter of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Phelps [1817-1893], a West Townshend, Vermont, lawyer, was a county judge and a Vermont state representative and senator. English Short-Title Catalogue T145688, N5624.
Price: $1,500.00
Book number 73623