The Legal and Literary Journal, and Mercantile Magazine...
Rare Prospectus for a Legal Periodical: Only One Other Copy Known [Legal Journal]. [Williams, John, of the Inner Temple]. The Legal and Literary Journal, and Mercantile Magazine. To be Continued Monthly, And Number Three to be Published January 1st, 1814... Conducted by John Williams, Esq., Author of the Laws of Trade and Commerce, &c. &c. Assisted by Several Literary and Commercial Gentlemen. [London?: S.n., circa 1813]. 10-1/4" x 8" (26 cm x 20 cm) broadside, address of recipient and postmark to verso, remnants of red wax seal. Moderate toning, two horizontal fold lines. A very good copy of a rare item. $350. * This is a rare and detailed prospectus for a periodical published under the guidance of John Williams, a barrister and author of The Law of Wills and Codicils (1810), The Laws of Trade and Commerce (1812) and A Treatise on the Study and Practice of the Law (1823). Since the prospectus states that issue "Number Three" will be published in January 1814, it may be assumed that two issues had already been printed, but today no issues of any date are found in Library Hub, OCLC, or in major libraries, including the British Library or Library of Congress. This prospectus, then, with its five-part table giving the "Proposed Arrangement" of topics, may preserve all that remains of the content and intentions of this serial. The themes of the "Legal Department" included "1. A Copious Epitome of the Decisions in the Courts of Law and Equity, as also in the Prize Courts. 2. A Full and Faithful Abridgement of the Public Statutes Immediately on Their Receiving the Royal Signature. 3. Dissertations on Constitutional Subjects. 4. Dissertations on the Various Branches of Law" and 5. Legal Biography. " Rarely will a prospectus state its own print run, but this one does: 3,000 copies. As we find only one other exemplar in the world at Yale Law School, the rarity may be calculated with unusual exactness: the survival rate for copies of this prospectus being one fifteenth of 1%. Yale's catalogue record does not indicate a manuscript address. Ours is addressed, on its verso, to Robert Thorpe [1771-1847], attorney and Clerk of the Peace in Alnwick, Northumberland. There are many extant copies of Williams's treatises. By contrast, his periodical The Legal and Literary Journal and its prospectus are his rarest productions by.
Price: $350.00
Book number 82980