Letter to Dr Blackstone, By the Author of The Question Stated.
An Extensive Debate with Blackstone [Meredith, Sir William (c.1725-1790)]. Letter to Dr. Blackstone, By the Author of The Question Stated. To Which is Prefixed, Dr. Blackstone's Letter to Sir William Meredith. London: Printed for G. Woodfall, and Messrs. Richardson and Urquhart, 1770. [iv], 8, 60 pp. Octavo (8" x 4-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound in recent quarter calf over marbled boards, blind fillets to calf edges, gilt fillets and lettering piece to spine. Light toning to interior, light foxing in a few places. $750. * First edition. In 1768, John Wilkes, the publisher of the controversial paper the North Briton, was elected to Parliament by Middlesex. However, during his term, he was imprisoned for seditious libel and subsequently expelled. While the legitimacy of his sentence was being debated, Middlesex attempted to re-elect him several times without success. Sir William Blackstone endorsed Wilkes's expulsion, prompting Meredith to point out inconsistencies between his position in Parliament and in his Commentaries with The Question Stated (1769). Blackstone responded to this charge in A Letter to the Author of The Question Stated, By Another Member of Parliament (1769). Meredith replied again with the present pamphlet, which also reprinted the text of Blackstone's Letter. A second edition appeared later the same year. Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 259. Laeuchli, A Bibliographical Catalog of William Blackstone 624.
Price: $750.00
Book number 75174