Catalogue 251
Page One
INDEX
Page 1: A - C
1. Addison, Alexander. REPORTS OF CASES IN THE COUNTY COURTS OF THE FIFTH CIRCUIT, and in the high court of errors and appeals of the state of Pennsylvania. And charges to grand juries of those county courts. Washington (PA): printed by John Colerick, 1800. Two volumes in one. x,396,(2),(xxiv); (viii),318pp. Contemporary sheep, leather label. A very good copy. $475.00
First edition. The first published reports for these courts in western Pennsylvania, and among the earliest published of any Pennsylvania reports. The second part consists of Addison's charges to juries on various occasions and topics, including the Whiskey Rebellion, constitutional government, freedom of the press, and the Alien and Sedition Acts (which he defended). Addison, an abrasive, reactionary diehard Federalist, was impeached and removed from the bench in 1803. Evans 36763. Wallace 585. Marvin p.52. An early western Pennsylvania imprint; Colerick, a pioneer printer, founded the Western Telegraph in 1795, the first printing in Washington, Pa. cf.Silver, Rollo: The American printer, p.143. For Addison, see Friedman, L.M., A History of American law, 1973, pp.113-4.
2. Amos, Sheldon. THE SCIENCE OF LAW. N.Y., Appleton, 1874. 417pp., ads. Orig. decorated cloth. A fine copy. $125.00
First American edition published in the same year as the first London. "Amos carried on the Bentham-Austin tradition in jurisprudence ... yet Amos outsteps his master by recognizing the existence of international law, to which Austin had denied the title of law `properly so called' ..."-Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences.
3. (Canada. Montreal. Anti-Seigniorial Convention) THE ANTI-SEIGNIORIAL CONVENTION OF MONTREAL TO THE PEOPLE. Montreal: De Montigny & Co., printers, 1854. 24pp. Orig. printed wraps (light edge wear) with an attractive printer's advert. on rear wrap. The front wrap replicates the title page, adding errata. $350.00
First edition, published simultaneously in French. "A review of each of the articles of the projected act for abolition of seigniorial tenures."-TPL 3406. Casey 2441. STC Can. A598. Dionne III, 714. NUC lists 3 locations, all in Canada (CaOTP-OTU-NSWA).
4. Aston, Robert. PLACITA LATINE REDIVIVA: a book of entries; containing perfect and approved precedents of counts, declarations, barrs, avowries, replications, pleas in abatement, issues, judgements, ... as well in actions real as personal, and sundry other entries; useful for all clerks, attorneys, and practisers in the courts at Westminster, and inferiour courts. ... The third edition corrected and amended. London: printed for H. Tywford et al., 1673. 4to. 4 p.l., 144,177-332,369-520(16)pp., irregular but correct. Engr. woodcut initials and chapter headings. Contemporary calf, spine ornately gilt in compartments with raised bands, leather label. A little fraying to crown of spine, joints slightly rubbed, otherwise an excellent copy in a well-preserved unrestored contemporary binding. $575.00
Third and final edition (issue?), first published in 1660 and 1661. The The collation is the same for all editions, including the erroneous pagination, suggesting that these are the original sheets with a cancel title page, and that, despite the edition statement, the text is unchanged. The entries are in Latin, the marginal notes in law French. Organized under topic headings, with an expanded table. The author's humble preface claims no originality, but only a much-needed user-friendly presentation of the most important pleadings. S&M I, 262. Wing A-4071. Marvin p.73. NUC lists 3 copies (DLC, PU-L, NjP), also 6 for the 1660 edition.
5. Atherley, Edmond Gibson. A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF THE LAW OF MARRIAGE, and other family settlements. Phila., John S. Littell, 1840. xxii, 226(i.e. 326)pp. New 1/4 cloth, leather label. Some browning but sound, overall a good copy. $200.00
First American from the first London edition of 1813. These are the sole editions. S&M II, 14. Marvin p.74, citing Kent ("an able and excellent treatise,") and listing only the London edition. AI 40-289.
6. Austin, John. THE PROVINCE OF JURISPRUDENCE DETERMINED. And, The uses of the study of jurisprudence. With an introduction by H.L.A. Hart ... London, Weidenfield, (1971). xxi,396pp., orig. cl., d.j. Fine. First publ. 1955; 4th prtg. $35.00
7. (Australia). Sheridan, John Beal and John Warren Bakewell. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. THE MAGISTRATES' GUIDE, containing the ordinary procedure, jurisdiction, and duties of special magistrates and justices of the peace relating to summary convictions, minor offences, indictable offenses ... also a digest of magisterial law, and forms in common use ... Adelaide: E. Spiller, acting government printer, 1879. xxiv,866pp. followed by Notanda to the magistrates' guide ... Adelaide, 1880. 6pp. Contemp. 3/4 calf. A fine copy. $475.00
First edition. An important manual, based self-consciously on the Benthamite distinction between law and procedure - the basis for the codes of Field and Fitzjames Stephen - the first manual for Australia to be organized in this manner. The work consists of a section on procedure (pp.1-161), a digest of law (pp.165-742), and a collection of forms (pp.745-832); the digest includes an article on local courts by J.M. Stuart. The NUC lists NN only. S&M VI, 50.
8. Azuni, D.A. SYSTEME UNIVERSEL DE PRINCIPES DU DROIT MARITIME DE L'EUROPE. ... Traduit de l'italien, avec des additions du meme auteur. Paris, Digeon, An VI (1798). Two volumes. Engraved frontis. portrait, 2 p.l., xxiv,286; 2 p.l, 352pp. Contemp. 1/4 sheep gilt, leather labels, marbled paper covered boards. A fine, attractive copy. $575.00
First edition in French, in effect, according to the preface, "a new work" because of extensive revisions and additions made by the author, who also supervised the translation. First published in Italian in 1795, this quickly became a work of authority, "more important in the ... French versions of 1798 and 1805, which were accepted as authoritative commentaries by the French tribunals of prize. ... Azuni's discussions of the history of the Rhodian laws and the Consolato were important."- Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences. The first edition in English, published in N.Y. in 1806, is based on this French text. An uncommon and important edition. NUC lists 3 copies (DLC, CLL, NcD).
9. Barnett, Walter. SEXUAL FREEDOM AND THE CONSTITUTION: an inquiry into the constitutionality of repressive sex laws. Albuquerque, Univ. of New Mexico Press, (1973). 333pp. Orig. cl., d.j. Fine. 1st ed. $65.00
10. Bentham, Jeremy. THE BOOK OF FALLACIES: from unfinished papers of Jeremy Bentham. By a friend. London, Hunt, 1824. xi,411p. Recent attractive 1/4 calf antique, marbled borads, leather label. A very good fresh copy. $500.00
First edition in English, and first publication in any language of certain portions of this treatise on the art of governing through parliamentary debate. The editor notes that Dumont had previously published portions of the manuscript in French, but had omitted material which related specifically to Great Britain. Bentham's works on Fallacies and Tactics together constitute "the first and only purely theoretical and scientific treatise on parliamentary procedure that has ever been written."-H.E.L. XIII, 94.
11. Beveridge, Albert J. THE LIFE OF JOHN MARSHALL. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, (1916). Four volumes. Illustrated. Orig. cloth. A fine set. First edition. Still a standard biography, and in some respects exhaustive, with useful bibliographic notes. Servies 1155. Howes B409. $100.00
12. Bijnkershoeck, Cornelius van. QUAESTIONUM JURIS PRIVATI. LIBRI QUATUOR ... Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden), apud Joannem van Kerckhem, 1743. 4to. 14 p.l., 744, (18)pp., large folding engraved portrait. Title page printed in red and black, with engraved vignette. Contemporary vellum. A very good copy. $750.00
First edition. Published posthumously a year after the author's death. Book four is devoted in its entirety (pp.517-744) to the law of maritime insurance, with substantial reference to America-including Jamaica, St. Thomas, and Quebec-and to the Davis Straits and the Greenland whalefishery. Uncommon. NUC lists DLC, CLL, NcD, and for a 1752 paginary reprint (or reissue?) MB, MH, PPB, MBAt, PPULC. The Dutch jurist Bynkershoeck ranks among the major 17th and 18th century writers on international law. Not in Sabin or TPL.
A lovely copy
13. Blackstone, William. LAW TRACTS, in two volumes. Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1762. Two volumes, 8vo. 8 plates, 2 tables (1 folding.) A very handsome set in fine condition, bound in contemporary sprinkled calf, ruled borders gilt, spines richly gilt in compartments, raised bands, double contrasting leather labels, in flawless condition. Contents fine. Overall an exceptionally attractive set in fine contemporary condition. Housed in a fine folding cloth box with leather label. $3500.00
First edition. The first collected edition, with revisions, of four of Blackstone's early works, several of which are quite rare in their original editions. They are reprinted here "with a few corrections and additions;" each of the volumes contains a general index. The works are: An essay on collateral consanguinity (1750, Blackstone's first legal publication and practically unobtainable in its first edition), Considerations on copyholders (1758, also rare), A treatise on the law of descents (1759), and The Great Charter (1759). Eller 238. A choice copy of an important collection of Blackstone texts.
14. Bodin, Jean. LES SIX LIVRES DE LA REPUBLIQUE ... Paris, chez Jacques du Puys ... 1577. Large folio. 4 p.l., 797 (i.e. 763)pp., 27 leaves. Folio in sixes (Q-Z in fours). A very good copy, normal light browning, light marginal foxing, still the paper crisp; small light dampstain confined to upper margin of last few leaves; title leaf with some dust soiling, inconspicuously remargined. New endpapers. Bound appropriately in recent full panelled calf with rich blind tooling, raised bands, red leather label. In all a very good presentable copy in a handsome modern binding.
Third edition, i.e. the second authorized edition. The first edition was published in 1576 (with a second issue whose title page is dated 1577); this was followed immediately by a piracy published in Geneva, also dated 1577. The present edition is extensively revised by Bodin. Crahan calls this the most widely disseminated of the early versions, and notes its "nombreuses additions tout au long du texte." This first authorial revision remained the basis for subsequent editions, also with revisions, until, with the sixth edition (1579) the French text reached a point of stability; Bodin himself prepared a Latin version in 1586 which became the standard one. A book of immense international influence during and after Bodin's lifetime, the Republique is "in effect, the first modern attempt to create a complete system of political science. ... Bodin was the first to set out clearly the argument round which most political discussion centered in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries," namely the belief in constitutional government.-Printing and the mind of man, 94 (first edition). En francais dans le texte, 68. Crahay, Roland, et al., Bibliographie critique des editions anciennes de Jean Bodin, 1992, F3a. $1875.00
15. Britton. BRITTON. The second edition. Faithfully corrected according to divers ancient manuscripts of the same books. By Edmund Wingate. London: printed by the assigns of John Moore, 1640. (16),287,(21) leaves. Black letter. Some browning, minor soiling to title page. Contemporary calf ruled in blind, later rebacked, direct-lettered spine. A very good copy. With the fine 18th century engraved bookplate of William Powell, of the Middle Temple. Also the 19th century bookplate of Edward Jackson Barrow, armourer of London. $400.00
The second edition, expanded, with significant corrections by Edmund Wingate; first published in 1540. A classic in the early literature of the common law, and the first substantial medieval English legal treatise (written c.1290) to find its way into print. S&M I, 52. STC 3804.
American Democracy in practice: a classic account
16. Bryce, James. THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH. In three volumes. London, Macmillan, 1888. 3 vols., large 8vo. A fine copy in contemporary 3/4 morocco gilt. $400.00
First edition. A classic account of American democracy second to none, a worthy chronological successor to Tocqueville, and like Democracy in America written from first-hand observation and a broad cultural perspective. Bryce considers not only the federal and state constitutions, but also political parties, elections, campaigning, machines, public opinion, education, religion, regionalism, oratory, bench and bar, democracy, and social mores. Though written by an Englishman for a European audience, the work earned the admiration of Americans. "The aim of The American Commonwealth was to portray `the whole political system ... in its practice as well as its theory ... Apart from its grasp, its keen insight into American life, and its literary fascination, the striking feature of the work is that its author deliberately rejects the temptation ... to set out his own general ideas. A vast mass of detail is presented with attractive lucidity and in such a manner that the reader is able .. to make generalizations for himself."- DNB, suppl., 1922. In later editions the chapter on the Tweed Ring was suppressed.
17. (Illinois). THE BUSINESS MAN'S ASSISTANT AND LEGAL GUIDE. Containing the laws of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin on conveyances, collection of debts (etc. etc.) together with approved forms ... and the laws of the U.S. relating to naturalization, preemption claims on public lands, and military bounty land ... by a member of the Chicago Bar. Chicago, Rufus Blanchard, 1856. 208pp., 8-page publisher's catalogue. Orig. cloth, a fine copy. $350.00
First edition. A rare mid-western guide, published in Chicago but printed in N.Y. Byrd 2400 locates 2 copies (ICHi, MWA); NUC adds 3 (DLC, CU, OO). This is the earliest listed publication of Rufus Blanchard, whose 8-page catalogue (of maps) is included here (not cited in Byrd).
18. (Freedom of the Press). Carr, Sir John, plaintiff. LIBEL. SIR JOHN CARR AGAINST HOOD AND SHARPE. Report of the above case ... before Lord Ellenborough and a special jury ... 25th July, 1808. Taken in short hand by Thomas Jenkins. To which are added several letters on the subject, written by the Earl of Mountnorris, Sir Richard Phillips, and the author of "My pocket book." London: printed by W. Wilson for Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe ... 1808. 4 p.l., 39pp. Including half-title. Neatly disbound. A fine copy.
First edition. McCoy C-104. An important freedom of the press trial which also reveals much about the practices of contemporary English literary publishing including costs and prices, advertising, reviewers, and the relation of booksellers to publishers. Sir Richard Phillips was one of the key witnesses. Carr was a popular author of travel books. See DNB. Printed by the defendants who won the case, claiming that they had the right to ridicule an author's work without being construed as libelling the author himself. Phillips's testimony was important in showing that rather than doing commercial harm, the satire actually helped sales of Carr's book. There is a full account given in DNB and McCoy. NUC lists NN, OClN, MNBedF. $350.00
19. Chandler, Peleg. AMERICAN CRIMINAL TRIALS. Volume I (-II). Boston, Little, Brown; London, Maxwell, 1841, 1844. Two volumes. Portraits, facsimiles. Original publisher's cloth gilt. A few minor spots of wear, the bindings the bindings otherwise bright and fresh. A very nice copy. Ownership signature of Jacob Collamer (1791-1865), lawyer, jurist, Congressman and U.S. Senator from Vermont. DAB. $350.00
First and only edition, complete in two volumes typically not found together. Chandler had planned a series of twelve volumes but stopped after the second. Includes a number of major 17th and 18th century trials of political importance such as Zenger, Trevett v. Weeden, Horsmanden's New York Negro plot, Jacob Leisler, Anne Hutchinson, General Andre, as well as various trials for murder, sedition, libel, witchcraft, and courts martial. Chandler was a leading trial lawyer and an experienced and careful legal scholar and writer. DAB. Marvin p.186.
More impressive than Marshall
20. Chase, Samuel, defendant. REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF THE HON. SAMUEL CHASE, ONE OF THE ASSOCIATE JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, before the High Court of Impeachment, composed of the Senate ... for high crimes and misdemeanors ... taken in short hand by Charles Evans ... Baltimore: printed for Samuel Butler and George Keatinge, 1805. 8vo. Pagination irregular but complete. An excellent copy, in the original boards, uncut, paper spine, printed paper label, joints cracked but holding, minor wear to upper extremity of spine. Overall a fresh, appealing copy in entirely original condition as issued. $575.00
First edition. One of two different versions of this landmark trial, both published in 1805. This one is reported by Charles Evans, with "the arguments of counsel revised by them from his manuscript." Chase was a Signer, a Revolutionary soldier, and, in the revisionist opinion of Professor Stephen B. Presser, "the most brilliant of the Supreme Court justices to sit before John Marshall, ... in some ways, a more impressive figure than the great chief justice himself." Chase was ultimately acquitted on charges of misconduct in several cases of sedition and in an address to a Maryland Grand Jury in which he attacked Jeffersonian interference with the Federal judiciary. Testimony was given by John Marshall, William Rawle, John Taylor, Alexander Dallas, Edmond Randolph, and Luther Martin, inter alia. The failed impeachment, a blatantly political attack led by Jefferson and his followers, is generally regarded as one of the decisive events of the early Federal period in establishing the principle of an independent judiciary. Presser offers a another, paradoxical interpretation: the trial demonstrated that it was dangerous for judges to articulate their political viewpoint, thereby setting the stage for "the convenient constitutional law fiction that there are `objective' answers to constitutional questions."-Kermit Hall, ed., Oxford campanion to the Supreme Court, p.137f. Sabin 12204. AI 8173. A choice copy of a seminal record of American constitutional development.
21. Chipman, Daniel. AN ESSAY ON THE LAW OF CONTRACTS FOR THE PAYMENT OF SPECIFICK ARTICLES. Middlebury, Vt., published by the author, 1822. xvi,224p. Contemp. sheep, lea. label, spine rubbed but sound and in all a very good copy. $200.00
First edition. Along with the work of Verplanck, a classic piece of early, original American contract literature. Both works point towards a revolution in American contract law in keeping with the development of a modern commercial economy in which the older idea of just price is replaced by a standard of free-market competition and reasonable business acumen. Marvin p.19. DAB. Horwitz, M., Transformation of American law, p.181. AI 8338.
22. THE CLERK'S ENGLISH TUTOR. SHEWING THE PRACTICE OF THE COURTS OF KING'S BENCH AND COMMON PLEAS, as they are now settled, pursuant to the several acts of Parliament ... with a great variety of curious English precedents of declarations and pleadings (never before printed in any language) ... and done into English conformable to the Statute of 4 Geo.2.c.26 ... By an attorney at Law. In the Savoy: Nutt and Gosling for W. Meadows, 1733. Two volumes. One engraved plate (after p.64, Vol. I). Contemporary blind tooled sheep, leather labels. Some minor rubbing but a quite appealing copy in well-preserved contemporary state.
First edition, and sole edition under this title, which was altered for a second and seemingly final edition in 1741. A new textbook for practitioners of the law, inspired by the recent passage of a statute requiring all court proceedings to be made in English. It is based on part I of Gardiner's Instructor clericalis (1697 and later editions). The preface to vol.II indicates that the two volumes were published separately. Copies appear to be rare. ESTC and NUC together locate four copies (MH-L, DLC, CLL, NcU). cf.S&M I, 265-6, 269. H.E.L, XII, 360. Marvin p.201. $675.00
23. (Cleveland, John). MAJESTAS INTEMERATA. OR, THE IMMORTALITY OF THE KING. (London), printed in the year 1649. 12mo. Title within ornamental border. (18),148pp. Contemporary blind ruled sheep, neatly rebacked. Slight marginal browning but overall a good fresh copy. $500.00
First edition. A defense of royal absolutism, written by the Cavalier poet John Cleveland, an important man of letters who was imprisoned under the Commonwealth. See DNB. The NUC lists 9 copies, and 5 copies of another edition published in 1689. No copy in ABPC at least since 1975. Wing C-4679.
24. (American Constitutions). A COLLECTION OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA ... published by order of Congress. Philadelphia printed: Glasgow re-printed by John Bryce, 1783. 1 p.l., 257pp. (A1 cropped affecting only the running head). Some browning and foxing, but a good sound copy, rebound in leather, spine gilt. $475.00
First Scottish edition. First published in Philadelphia in 1781, this printing is preceded by two London editions (1782-3); there was also a Dublin edition in 1783. Includes the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation (here called the Treaty of General and United Confederacy), and the Peace Treaties. This edition contains by way of preface two pages of original Scottish verse extolling the constitutions. Sabin 16091. The Constitution of the United States ... an exhibit, Historical Soc. of Pa., 1937, #71.
25. Cooper, Thomas. A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF LIBEL AND THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS; showing the origin, use, and abuse of the law of libel; with copious notes and references to authorities in Great Britain and the United States ... New York: G.F. Hopkins, 1830. 184pp. Some usual foxing and browning; occasional inoffensive light pencil underlining. Recent attractive 1/4 calf antique, leather label. $550.00
First edition. One of the outstanding early American works on free speech. "His legal researches led him to protest against the common law doctrine of libel."- McCoy C558. Cooper himself had been prosecuted for sedition thirty years earlier under the Alien and Sedition Acts, with respect to which Cooper reprints a long letter written by Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, the great English liberal reformer, shortly before Cartwright's death in 1824. Sabin 16619. Missed by Marvin and curiously omitted in the account of Cooper in the DAB.
26. Cruise, William. A DIGEST OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND RESPECTING REAL PROPERTY. Third American, from the last London edition, revised and enlarged, with references to the American decisions. N.Y., Collins, & Hannay, 1827. 7 volumes bound in 4. Contemp. sheep, double contrasting lea. labels. A very nice set. Contemp. booktickets of James C. Bruce, scion of a wealthy Virginia family, entrepreneur, and builder of a landmark Greek Revival mansion, Berry Hill, in Halifax County.
Third American edition, copyrighted, with original American material, first edition thus. This differs from the 1823 edition by another American editor, Edward Ingraham. A first American edition, 1808, was a straightforward reprint of the English original. Subsequent American editions (1834 and 1849) were prepared by yet other American editors, the last being Simon Greenleaf. Cruise is the most complete work of the period on real property. As can be seen from the perennial interest shown by a succession of American editors, it remained a standard work in this country even after the appearance of indigenous texts by Hilliard and Kent. And the American editions outlasted the British. Marvin p.243f. S&M II, 87. An attractive set. $250.00
INDEX
