Anno Regni Georgii II Regis Vicesimo Quinto, 1751, Acts 1-39

1751. Includes the First Printing of the Act that Introduced Anatomization [Great Britain]. George II [1683-1760], King of Great Britain. Anno Regni Georgii II. Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae, Vicesimo Quinto. At the Parliament Begun and Holden at Westminster, The Tenth Day of November, Anno Dom. 1747, In the Twenty First Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second, By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. And from thence Continued by Several Prorogations to the Fourteenth Day of November, 1751, Being the Fifth Session of this Present Parliament. London: Printed by Thomas Baskett; and by the assigns of Robert Baskett, 1751 [i.e. 1752]. Acts I-XXXIX (only). 1-295, 295-766 pp. Leaf 4E2 repeated. Same general title page preceding each act, Acts V-XXXIX dated 1741. Folio (12" x 7-1/2"). Contemporary paneled calf, spine ends and corners mended, raised bands, blind fillets and ornaments and lettering piece to spine, blind tooling to board edges. Rubbing to boards and extremities, scuffing and a few small gouges to boards, nick to upper right corner of lettering piece, rear joint starting, nicks to board edges, hinges cracked, early ownership signature (of Thomas Vivian) to upper corner of front free endpaper. Light toning to interior, light foxing in a few places, brief early annotations to first pages of first few acts, slight crack to text block between pp. 268-269. $1,250. * A collection of 39 public acts passed in the fifth session of the tenth Parliament of Great Britain. (A total of 60 public and 41 private acts were passed during the session.) Some of the more interesting acts include an act mandating quarantine for diseased cattle, an attempt to address the aftermath of the Calendar Act of 1751 and "An Act for Better Preventing the Horrid Crime of Murder," also known as the Murder Act of 1751. The Murder Act mandated anatomization or hanging in chains for the bodies of executed murderers. Though post-execution dissection had a long history as an ad-hoc practice, the Act formalized the practice and ushered in a new wave of anatomizations. English Short-Title Catalogue N52562.