LAW] BLACKSTONE, WILLIAM. Commentaries on the Laws of England . Oxford: printed at the Clarendon Press, 1765-66-68-69. First editions. Four volumes. Contemporary calf, the spines tooled and lettered in gilt with raised bands, housed in custom cloth slipcases. 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches (27.5 x 22 cm); I: (iv), iv-(viii), 472 pp. (correctly ending at 3M1), 8 pp. supplement at end (bound in to later issues); II: (viii), 520, xx pp., with the Table of Consanguinity and the Table of Descents plates; III: viii, 455, (1), xxvii pp.; IV: viii, 436, vii, (i), with the 39 pp. of the index at the rear. Generally a clean copy but with some scattered foxing and stray stains, stamps to verso of titles, bookplate in vol. 1, title of vol. 3 with former library name in ink and a small old marginal dampstain within, tear into Ww2 in vol. 4, the boards and few leaves detached on volumes 1 and 4, other boards detached and joints starting, ring to cover of vol. 2, flyleaves possibly renewed. First editions throughout of one of the great classics of English law and jurisprudence. Blackstone's work succeeded that of Edward Coke as the foundational treatise on English law. PMM states "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." The influence of Blackstone on the Founding Fathers should not be understated. While Jefferson ultimately grew to dislike Blackstone, Hamilton cited the Commentaries in Federalists No. 69 and 84 to bolster the case for the Constitution. Grolier/English 52; PMM 212; Rothschild 407. C The New York City Bar Association
LAW] BLACKSTONE, WILLIAM. Commentaries on the Laws of England . Oxford: printed at the Clarendon Press, 1765-66-68-69. First editions. Four volumes. Contemporary calf, the spines tooled and lettered in gilt with raised bands, housed in custom cloth slipcases. 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches (27.5 x 22 cm); I: (iv), iv-(viii), 472 pp. (correctly ending at 3M1), 8 pp. supplement at end (bound in to later issues); II: (viii), 520, xx pp., with the Table of Consanguinity and the Table of Descents plates; III: viii, 455, (1), xxvii pp.; IV: viii, 436, vii, (i), with the 39 pp. of the index at the rear. Generally a clean copy but with some scattered foxing and stray stains, stamps to verso of titles, bookplate in vol. 1, title of vol. 3 with former library name in ink and a small old marginal dampstain within, tear into Ww2 in vol. 4, the boards and few leaves detached on volumes 1 and 4, other boards detached and joints starting, ring to cover of vol. 2, flyleaves possibly renewed. First editions throughout of one of the great classics of English law and jurisprudence. Blackstone's work succeeded that of Edward Coke as the foundational treatise on English law. PMM states "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." The influence of Blackstone on the Founding Fathers should not be understated. While Jefferson ultimately grew to dislike Blackstone, Hamilton cited the Commentaries in Federalists No. 69 and 84 to bolster the case for the Constitution. Grolier/English 52; PMM 212; Rothschild 407. C The New York City Bar Association
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Create an alert![LAW] BLACKSTONE, WILLIAM. Commentaries on the Laws of England](https://doyle.com/sites/default/files/styles/auction_slider/public/images/lots/2014-11-24/1043116.jpg?itok=J9pG2e_8 "Source: Doyle New York - Auctioneers & Appraisers")
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