Beschreibung:

SUPREME COURT, JUSTICES]. A very extensive collection of 69 autograph letters, letters and documents signed by 10 Chief and 59 Associate Justices, 1789-1923. Each letter neatly tipped to folio sheets preceded by an engraved portrait, hand illuminated titlepage. Binding: Full dark blue levant morocco gilt, covers with gilt-ruled borders and gilt-lettered, spine gilt in six compartments with American Eagle emblems, top edge gilt, red morocco inlaid doublures gilt, watered silk end pages, morocco-tipped protective case. A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES, JAY THROUGH BRANDEIS Apparently collected and bound together in the 1920s, the present collection is the most complete and choice collection of Supreme Court justices to have been offered in at least three decades. No fewer than 58 of the letters included are autograph letters signed; a further 6 are letters signed. The collection features excellent examples of even the rarest justices, such as James Iredell, Alfred Moore, Robert Trimble, John Catron, John McKinley, Peter V. Daniel and Robert Hanson Harrison (appointed 1789, but died before he served). SUMMARY CONTENTS: John Jay, Chief Justice , ALS, 28 December 1820, 1 page , gracious thanks for membership in the American Academy of Language and Belle Lettre; John Rutledge, Chief Justice , LS (autograph closing), 14 February 1779, 1page , forwarding commissions for two officers to Congress; William Cushing, ALS, 5 June 1801, 1 page , acknowledging receipt of his salary; James Wilson ADS, February 1779, 1 page, promissory note; John Blair ALS, Savannah, October 31 1790, 1 page , cotton and financial matters; Robert H. Harrison, ALS, Richmond, 1 June 1782, 4 pages , important letter to Virginia legislature on naval defense of Chesapeake; James Iredell, ALS, 15 April 1795, 1 page , VERY RARE, acknowledging a payment; Thomas Johnson partly printed DS, [August 1764], 1 page ; William Patterson, ALS, 2 July 1796, 1 page, acknowledging his salary as Justice; Samuel Chase, ADS, 11 September 1794, 1 page ; Oliver Ellsworth, Chief Justice , ADS, 18 July 1786, 1 page , draft legal document concerning an illegitimate child; Bushrod Washington, ALS, Mount Vernon, 12 November 1826, 1 full page ; Alfred Moore, ALS, 5 June 1797, 1 page , VERY RARE, complaining of his finances in "these very difficult times"; John Marshall Chief Justice , ALS, 17 March 1820, 1 page , thanks for an educational manual; William Johnson ALS, 30 March 1818, 1 pages , naval affairs and the death of his father; Henry Brockholst Livingston, ALS, 7 March 1786, 1 page ; Thomas Todd, ALS, to Bushrod Washington, Frankfort, Ky., 30 June 1825, 2 pages , long letter on a judicial question before the court; Joseph Story, ALS, 13 July 1837, 1 page ; Gabriel Duval, ALS, 28 August 1810, 2 pages , interesting letter regarding Timothy Pickering; Smith Thompson, ALS, 6 December 1802, 1 page ; Robert Trimble, ALS, 29 October 1825, 1 page, neatly mounted , VERY RARE, detailing travel plans; John McLean ALS, 4 February 1842, 1 page ; Henry Baldwin, ALS, 17 June 1834, 1 full page ; James M. Wayne, ALS, 7 March 1848, 1 page ; Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice , ALS, 27 July 1852, 1 page , supplying his autograph to a collector; Philip R. Barbour, ALS, 26 December 1839, 1 page ; John Catron, ALS, 1 October n.y., 1 page , VERY RARE, introducing two French gentlemen; John McKinley, ALS, 21 December 1833, page , VERY RARE; Peter V. Daniel, ALS, 18 February 1843, 1 page , VERY RARE, furnishing a "specimen of my handwriting"; Samuel Nelson, ALS, 2 January 1854, 2 pages , regarding the family of James Fenimore Cooper; Levi Woodbury, ALS, 24 September 1845, 1 page , telling a friend he will "accept the office" (appointment to the Court); Robert C. Grier, ALS, 9 March 1837, 1 page ; Benjamin R. Curtis, ALS, 9 November n.y., 1 page ; John A. Campbell, ALS, 21 January 1873, 1 page ; Nathan Clifford, ALS, 13 February 1857, 3 pages , fine, confidential letter on Buchanan's cabi