Tracts, Chiefly Relating to the Antiquities and Laws of England.
Final Edition of an Important Collection of Blackstone Texts Blackstone, Sir William [1723-1780]. Tracts, Chiefly Relating to the Antiquities and Laws of England. Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press, 1771. [iv], 353, [3], lxxx, [20] pp. Six parts, each preceded by divisional title page. Eight copperplate facsimiles (of royal seals), copperplate Table of Consanguinity, two copperplate tail-pieces. Quarto (11" x 8-1/4"). Contemporary calf, rebacked in period style, gilt-edged raised bands, lettering piece and blind ornaments to spine, corners and hinges mended. Light rubbing and a few shallow scuffs to boards, moderate rubbing to board edges, later armorial bookplate (Mirehouse) to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, moderate soiling to endleaves, light soiling to title page. $1,250. * "Third" and final edition. This is an important collection of six early works, all revised, most of which are quite rare in their original editions. The first edition was published in 1762 with the title Law Tracts. There is no evidence that a second edition was published, unless one counts the pirated Dublin reprint of the first edition, which was printed in 1767. The works are: An Analysis of the Laws of England (1756), An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity (1750, Blackstone's first legal publication), Considerations on the Question, Whether Tenants by Copy of Court Roll According to the Custom of the Manor, Though Not at the Will of the Lord, Are Freeholders Qualified to Vote in Elections for Knights of the Shire (1758), Observations on the Oxford Press (1757), and The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest (1759) and Magna Carta, Carta de Forest, Etc. (1759). The contents of the two editions differ. The first does not have Analysis of the Laws of England or Observations on the Oxford Press; the "third" does not have Treatise on the Law of Descents in Fee-Simple (1759). Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 240. Laeuchli, A Bibliographical Catalog of William Blackstone 553.
Price: $1,250.00
Book number 74277