Commentaries on the Laws of England, Presentation Copy.
Blackstone. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Third Edition, Volume I. Authorial Presentation Copy to Lord Chief Baron Parker Blackstone, Sir William [1723-1780]. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1768. Third edition. Volume I (of four). [iv], iv, [4], 485 pp. Quarto (10-3/4" x 8-1/4"; 27.3 x 20.9 cm). Contemporary calf, raised bands, lettering-piece lacking. Worn; boards detached; spine abraded; considerable scuffing and edgewear; text-block split between pp. 128-129. Interior with moderate toning, faint dampstaining toward rear; preliminaries and front free endpaper detached, the latter soiled and edgeworn. Armorial bookplate of Parker of Park Hall to front pastedown; early manuscript inscriptions to front free endpaper; later manuscript note tipped to title. $2,500. * A highly important authorial presentation copy. The front free endpaper bears inscriptions in the hand of Sir Thomas Parker (1695-1784), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer: "Ex dono Authoris," together with a presentation to his son, Thomas Parker (1732-1797), and a contemporary memorial note on Blackstone's death (14 February 1780). The armorial bookplate confirms the provenance. These inscriptions indicate that Parker received the work directly from Blackstone and intended the set for his eldest son, Thomas Parker (1732-1797). Parker, a senior judicial contemporary of Blackstone, moved within the same professional circle; Blackstone is recorded dining with "both chief justices and Chief Baron Parker" in May 1767 (Prest). The present volume represents a direct exchange within the highest ranks of the eighteenth-century English judiciary. A later note, on stationery headed "Viscount St. Vincent, Meaford, Stone," suggests descent through the family of John Jervis (1735-1823), who married Martha Parker, daughter of the younger Thomas Parker. Authorial presentation copies of the Commentaries are of the utmost rarity; auction records note only one comparable example (Sotheby's New York, 11 December 1990, presented to Arthur Onslow). Baker, "Parker, Sir Thomas," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (accessed online). Prest, William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century 254. Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 4. Laeuchli, A Bibliographical Cat.
Price: $2,500.00
Book number 85861