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Details
BLACKSTONE, William (1723-1780). Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press, 1765-1769.
4 volumes, 4o (263 x 199 mm). 2 engraved tables, one folding, in volume II. (Small hole on Zz3 in vol. I affecting one letter, occasional light browning and spotting.) Contemporary calf (rebacked in morocco, some wear at extemities). Provenance: "J.Q." (stamp with heraldic crest on title in volume one) -- purchased from Inman's Book Shop, New York, 8 May 1958.
FIRST EDITION. The text in Vol. I ends on MMM1, and without final blank (corresponding with Rothschild). This copy does not include the Supplement to the First Edition; containing the most material corrections and additions in the second.
"THIS LEGAL CLASSIC IS THE POETRY OF THE LAW, JUST AS POPE IS LOGIC IN POETRY" (Judge John Marshall). "Blackstone's great work on the laws of England is the extreme example of justification of an existing state of affairs by virtue of its history... Until the Commentaries, the ordinary Englishman had viewed the law as a vast, unintelligible and unfriendly machine... Blackstone's great achievement was to popularize the law and the traditions which had influenced its formation... He takes a delight in describing and defending as the essence of the constitution the often anomalous complexities which had grown into the laws of England over the centuries. But he achieves the astonishing feat of communicating this delight, and this is due to a style which is itself always lucid and graceful" (PMM). Grolier English 52; PMM 212; Rothschild 407. (4)
4 volumes, 4o (263 x 199 mm). 2 engraved tables, one folding, in volume II. (Small hole on Zz3 in vol. I affecting one letter, occasional light browning and spotting.) Contemporary calf (rebacked in morocco, some wear at extemities). Provenance: "J.Q." (stamp with heraldic crest on title in volume one) -- purchased from Inman's Book Shop, New York, 8 May 1958.
FIRST EDITION. The text in Vol. I ends on MMM1, and without final blank (corresponding with Rothschild). This copy does not include the Supplement to the First Edition; containing the most material corrections and additions in the second.
"THIS LEGAL CLASSIC IS THE POETRY OF THE LAW, JUST AS POPE IS LOGIC IN POETRY" (Judge John Marshall). "Blackstone's great work on the laws of England is the extreme example of justification of an existing state of affairs by virtue of its history... Until the Commentaries, the ordinary Englishman had viewed the law as a vast, unintelligible and unfriendly machine... Blackstone's great achievement was to popularize the law and the traditions which had influenced its formation... He takes a delight in describing and defending as the essence of the constitution the often anomalous complexities which had grown into the laws of England over the centuries. But he achieves the astonishing feat of communicating this delight, and this is due to a style which is itself always lucid and graceful" (PMM). Grolier English 52; PMM 212; Rothschild 407. (4)